Shaded Love
by Reputable Lionn
Summary: AU A new dragon moves into town, a beautiful shadow dragoness named Cynder. Spyro falls in love with her and wants her to be the one to call his own, but what will his interest in her mean for his two best- and only- friends? What happens when one of them reveals their true feelings of him? Love can't come without broken hearts. T for some sexual themes. SpyroXCynder, SpyroXOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Friday**_

* * *

A humble young purple dragon was on his way home from school. It was Friday, the day that represented the beginning of the weekly desires for relaxation, only this Friday was a slightly more bitter one. Clenched in one of his paws was a report card- and not a good one. He sighed and unrolled it to look it over again. Failing grades for just about all of his classes. The only exception was his literature class, which even then was a lousy D-. He crumbled it back into a sloppy roll as he stepped foot onto his street.

"Oh, don't worry, Dad, everyone failed those classes," he mumbled. He needed to recite his crappy excuse for the big moment when he walked in through the door to find his Dad's outstretched arm ready to snatch the report card out of his hands and look at it. Surely by now he would be used to being disappointed in him for his grades at school, while he somehow managed to pass year after year he still found a way to go back to old habits.

His rusty excuse did not get much practice, before he knew it he was standing in his front yard hesitantly taking slow steps towards the front door. He groaned and opened the door. Sure enough, there he was. Ignitus, his dad, was standing against the wall with his arms folded. He stared at him apathetically with an uncaring frown. "Any hope for this year, Spyro?" he asked. He lifted his head in question as he studied Spyro's nervous posture.

Spyro stopped and took a deep breath before placing the paper in Ignitus's paw. "See for yourself, I'm sure you'll be ecstatic." He slumped his shoulders and stared at the ground, waiting for his lecture to begin.

"Again?" He grumbled, "Failing all of your classes, what's your excuse this time?" he asked in a firm tone. He handed the paper back to Spyro and cocked an eyebrow waiting for his response.

"Well, you know Dad, everyone failed those classes." Spyro moaned, then walked into the living room and collapsed onto the couch, purring in comfort as he stretched his body out. Several satisfying crunches came from his legs. Ignitus carelessly tossed the paper onto the dining room table and followed, taking a seat in his chair tucked away near the corner. It squeaked as it rocked from his body. "I'll try harder, I promise." Spyro said.

Ignitus sighed and watched as Spyro continued to stretch his limbs. "Isn't that what you always say? 'I promise, I promise,' and yet you never keep them." He rested his head onto his paw, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh, "What would your mother say?" he whispered to himself.

Spyro frowned. "Dad, Mom is gone," he murmured. "If she was here she would be saying the same things. And besides, I really will try harder."

Ignitus opened his eyes to reveal the stress written in them. He looked Spyro over. "From now on you are going to start studying for twenty minutes every single day, you hear me?"

Spyro did not answer him. He simply swished his tail around behind him and turned his head to look at Ignitus.

"I said did you hear me?" He asked, slightly louder but much more firmly.

"I heard you, Dad." he said quickly. "If you want I can go do that now." Spyro stood to his feet, already knowing what his answer would be.

A nearly undetectable small smile carved into Ignitus's face. "Yeah, you go do that," He stood up and started off towards the kitchen. "I'll start dinner."

Spyro turned away and walked towards the stairs. He paused when he heard Ignitus speak again.

"Please, no messing around Spyro, you really need to start making this stuff happen." Ignitus said.

Spyro nodded and continued towards the stairs, quickly running up them and down the hall to his room. He opened the door and went inside, closing it behind him. His room was somewhat messy, papers and other random things were scattered around on the floor and his bed was a mess. He sat down on his desk, which was right next to his window. He tidied the desk.

He grabbed a blank sheet of paper that was lying nearby and slapped it against the desk and grabbed a pencil. He then began to write down notes about things that he did in school that day.

Like he was told, he studied for twenty minutes, he had created about three entire pages worth of information for multiple different classes. He dropped his pencil onto the desk and sighed, glad that he could finally get around to doing whatever he wanted. He peered outside and scanned the streets trying to spot something interesting to watch.

Something caught his eye. The house across the street had a 'for sale' sign buried in the front yard, but it was no longer there. Spyro thought for a moment then came to the conclusion that someone had purchased the house. He looked at the windows to try to spot movement but he could see that the house was completely empty, meaning that the new owners have not moved in yet. He pondered over what the owners might look like, and smiled at the thought of the potential to make new friends should anyone his age move in as well.

"_Perhaps It'll be a family of ice dragons." _Spyro thought. Ice dragons are usually the most friendly of all dragons by nature, and if the people moving in are indeed ice dragons he would have no problem making a few new friends. But, Spyro was not the most popular of all dragons. He only had two friends in school and like him they were both of a lower status; Blaze and Vixen. Blaze is a fire dragon and he tends to be reckless. He is red and is a lot more stubborn than Vixen, who is an ice dragon. She is cyan and very genial, most likely because she is of the ice element.

They have been best friends for more than eight years, and if they weren't at school or at home they were together. They have outgrown the age of playing for the most part as they were all 14, but that does not change the fact that they enjoyed the company of each other. Spyro couldn't help but wonder what they were up to. He couldn't wait to tell them about the new dragons moving in.

A few hours passed and Spyro spent most of it lying in his bed resting, thinking extensively about the new neighbors. His thoughts ranged from the appearance of the new dragons to how he was going to befriend someone his age. He wanted to casually approach them, make himself look friendly. First impressions count, and Spyro did not want to mess up his. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to slip into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

**It's a short chapter, but I had to start this somehow :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Saturday**_

* * *

Light- and a bothersome amount of it, shined directly into the eyes of Spyro. His dreams abruptly came to an end as he jolted awake, hissing in frustration. He squinted against it, flailing his paws around trying to cover his eyes as he stumbled out of his bed and out of its path. He could not see what he was doing, carelessly trying to put his paws out in front of him in an attempt to find a surface. He felt contact with the ground and tried to straighten his body, taking a few steps forward and tripping over something on the floor.

His landing was not a soft one. His snout smacked hard against the ground, causing him to lose his sense of smell momentarily. It stung like bees and he growled as he pulled himself to his feet. What a terrible way to wake up. He opened his eyes and crossed them to look at his snout, which was still causing him pain. "Good for nothing sun," he mumbled before stretching his legs and sighing in relief. He fanned his wings and looked out at the ball of gas that caused it, it was just poking up from the horizon. He turned his attention to the door and pricked his ears.

Downstairs he could hear a shuffling sound. No doubt his dad, awoken by the ruckus. He winced and sat down on his haunches, slowing his breathing and holding still to listen for footsteps. He was so quiet that he could hear his own heart beating in a steady tempo. He yawned and stepped foot out into the hallway, deciding the coast was clear. Slowly, he walked to the stairs but stopped about halfway there. He tensed and pricked his ears again, he heard footsteps and they were getting closer.

Quickly he tip-toed past the stairs and crouched down at the end of the hallway, just as the footsteps turned into loud thumps announcing that his dad was coming up the stairs, and in a hurried pace at that. He held his breath as he came into view. His eyes were squinted and to Spyro's dismay he was wearing an angry frown. He shrunk back further into the corner as Ignitus stormed his way to his room, pushing the door open and peering in, his head darting back and forth scanning the room when he saw that Spyro was not there. He began grumbling something to himself.

Spyro crept towards the stairs, making small movements and stepping lightly. If the floor creaked he would be a goner. When he got to the top, he slowly began to step down them. He heard his dad's footsteps start again, and Spyro's heart began to beat faster than a stallion as he hurried his pace. Just in time he got to the end of the stairs as the thumping of Ignitus's feet came from above and made it's way downwards.

He made a graceful dive towards the couch, soaring through the air cinematically. It was fun, but the situation at hand was dire. He plopped onto it and held still, pretending to be asleep.

"Spyro?" Ignitus growled. Spyro gulped. "What are you doing up so early and why are you making so much noise?" he was saying.

Spyro could feel his presence appear in front of him, and his voice broke off when he saw Spyro seemingly asleep. Ignitus chuckled in amusement. "On the couch?" he murmured.

He slowly began to open his eyes, licking his lips and pretending to be startled at the sight of his dad. He lifted his head and looked around the room, his mouth hanging open. He swept his gaze back over Ignitus. "W-what time is it?" he moaned.

"It's time for you to wake up, sleepy." he gleamed. Turning around, he left towards his chair and sat down in it, groaning. "You wanna tell me why you fell asleep on the couch?"

"I don't know how it happened," Spyro stuttered. He pressed his lips together tightly and stood up, hopping off of the couch and towards the window to look outside. Birds were chirping and the sun was glowing.

Ignitus smirked. "So your telling me that you fell asleep on the couch without knowing?"

"Do I need to remind you that you did once, too?" Spyro laughed, narrowing his eyes in triumph. "But yeah, I am." He gently began to hum a tune to himself as he walked back to the couch and sat down. Ignitus was watching him curiously, trying to figure out what he was getting at.

He growled, irritated that Spyro brought up the couch incident. "That wasn't my fault." he said. Spyro snickered. Outside a sharp but quiet bang was heard, but neither paid any attention to it.

"But you should have seen the look on your face," Spyro laughed, "You looked like an ape and drooled like one."

"Can we change the topic?" Ignitus growled. He noticed the playful look in Spyro's eyes, "Be serious." he scolded.

Spyro twisted his expression into a straight face. "Alright then. How was your morning?" he asked. He didn't really care about Ignitus's morning, though.

"How do you think my morning was? Your noise woke me up." He mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" Spyro asked.

"You seem to forget that I have a nose, I could smell you when you were sneaking downstairs." A smile crossed his face.

Spyro stared at him. He wrinkled his nose and frowned. "So what's my punishment?" he sighed.

"Do you really think I'm going to punish you? I just want to know what that bang was."

"You're not?"

"Do you want me to?" Ignitus asked teasingly. Spyro shook his head. "So then what was it?"

"My snout." Spyro mumbled. Ignitus gave him a look. "I fell when I was getting out of bed."

Outside, the same bang as before was heard. Spyro, now curious, paced over to the window and looked out. The door of the house across the street had just shut, meaning the new residents had arrived and were probably moving their things in. He looked back over to Ignitus.

"When will we speak to them?" Spyro asked.

"Speak to who?"

"The new neighbors," Spyro answered. "They're here."

"Really?" Ignitus mused. He paced over to to the window beside Spyro and locked his gaze onto house. Both of them patiently waited for someone to exit the house. After a few moments of uninterrupted silence, no one had came out. Ignitus turned away and sat back down in his chair. "Do you remember what you need to do today?"

Spyro was confused. "No, what?"

Ignitus locked his eyes onto Spyro's. "Study."

Spyro frowned and let out a shrill grunt. "Why?" he whined, "I have all day to do that, I want to go play with Blaze and Vixen for a while."

Ignitus maintained his gaze. "You're going to study first. Twenty minutes."

He opened his mouth to argue, but sighed and shambled upstairs and into his room, wanting to cry. His eyes stung and he silently cursed his misfortune as he slid himself in behind his desk. He peered over to look at the house across the street, wanting to get his long awaited look at the new neighbors, but no one was visible.

He sighed and sunk into his chair, blowing air out of his nose in frustration. He stared at the desk before him, expecting it to do his studying for him. He groaned and placed a piece of paper on it, staring at it for several minutes debating whether or not he even wanted to do it.

Spyro suddenly had a new idea. Ignitus was downstairs, and so far he has not bothered checking for any of his work. He could do anything he wanted as long as he was quiet. He quickly snatched a pencil and went to work on drawing, a smile appearing on his face.

He began to draw the shapes of three dragons, making their limbs extra muscular. He then began to draw in the details, including the faces and small scales. The faces were of Blaze, Vixen and himself- all together with smiles on their faces. Off to the side he began working on an elaborate drawing, putting more effort into it then ever before. Concentrating heavily, his mouth dropped open and his eyes were wide, capable of burning a hole in the paper it seemed. Fifteen minutes later, the picture was beginning to come together. It was a portrait of himself, complete with details that went all the down to the scratch on his forehead.

His concentration muted all other sounds, preventing him from noticing the footsteps outside of his door. He turned around as the door squeaked, eyes wide in surprise as Ignitus walked in, smiling at the sight of him.

Spyro gulped as Ignitus came closer and glanced at the paper in front of him. His smile vanished. His eye twitched.

"What is this?" he hissed.

Spyro felt his face redden. "I wanted to draw," he murmured quietly.

"I asked you to study, something important," he yelled, "Not draw!"

"But I have all day for that!" Spyro yelled back.

Ignitus snatched the paper off of the desk and tore it into small pieces, Spyro watched and opened his mouth to protest, a tear running down his face. He put so much effort into the drawing and now it was gone.

Ignitus threw the pieces onto the desk and left the room, stopping and turning around as he was leaving. "Now you have all day to study." he growled.

Spyro felt anger flaring in his chest. He threw himself onto his feet and ran out of his room and downstairs, galloping out of the back door and collapsing in the back yard, sobbing.

He wanted to break something, preferably something that his dad owned. He insulted him under his breath as he cried, burying his face into his arms and whimpering softly.

There was another bang across the street.

Spyro lifted his head and stopped crying. He pricked his ears and listened for a moment before standing up and walking towards the nearby tree. He stood up on his back legs and kicked off of the ground and dug his claws into its trunk. He pulled himself up to the top of the tree, grunting as he sat upon the highest branch.

From there, he could see over his house and six houses over from his own. He peered across the street to look at the source of the sound. He could make out a black shape. He narrowed his eyes and looked harder, it appeared to be a black dragoness in their own backyard, which strangely was along the side of the house.

Her body language showed frustration, but Spyro still wanted to get her attention.

"Hey!" he hollered. He smiled, expecting the dragoness to look over. She didn't. She was walking around aimlessly about the backyard. Spyro was curious to know what was troubling her, he also wanted to talk to the new neighbor. He leaped from the tree, spreading his wings to glide over his house and into the street. He came closer, able to make out the facial features of the dragoness.

He stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide. The dragon was extremely attractive... her beauty was beginning to daze him. He continued to stare, noticing her vivid and radiant green eyes- which were stunning even though they were twisted into an aggravated expression. He noticed that a streak of blue began to run down her face, contrasting with her shiny black scales. Her chest was rising and falling repeatedly as small whimpers escaped her throat. She was crying.

Despite her silent weeping, Spyro still found it impossible to look away from the dragoness. Her appearance was ravishing and Spyro swept his eyes from her head to her paws carefully examining her features. He felt his jaw slowly begin to drop.

She suddenly stopped walking and sat down on her haunches, her head was dipped and her eyes were closed. Spyro heard her stop crying and instead start sniffling as her mouth twisted into a sorrowful frown. His heart slowly began to melt at the sight of it. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and comfort her, but he knew that it wouldn't happen.

He slowly began to walk closer, stepping foot onto the grass of their front yard, he opened his mouth to speak but stopped and shrunk back onto the street when he heard a deep voice booming from the inside of the house. The dragoness opened her wet eyes and turned to look into the windows of her house. He could make out the voice as a command to the black dragoness to come inside. The voice also yelled out a name. Cynder.

Cynder, atleast what Spyro thought her name was, began to slowly shamble into her house, wiping away her tears.

Spyro turned away, afraid of getting on bad terms with the new neighbors for trespassing. Spyro silently hoped that Cynder will attend to his school, the perfect place for him to start a conversation with her.

Because he was outside, Spyro decided that he wanted to go and visit Blaze, and hopefully Vixen if she was at his house too. Luckily, Blaze's house was not too far away- it was just a few blocks over from where he stood. He took one last look at the house before darting down the street.

* * *

Spyro arrived at the front door of Blaze's home. A hearty smile formed on his face as he knocked on the door and sat down to wait. He could hear someone making their way to the door and he sat up. The door swung open and a crimson dragon looked down at him.

"Hey Spyro," Blaze's father said, "You're here to play with Blaze, right?"

Spyro cheekily nodded, whipping his tail around in happiness. "Yes, is he here?"

Blaze's father smiled and stepped aside, making a gesture to invite Spyro inside. After thanking him, Spyro brushed past him and he shut the door behind him. "He's downstairs in the basement with Vixen. Can I get you something to drink?"

Spyro shook his head and began walking down the stairs. He heard Blaze's father telling him to have fun and he smiled. As he came to the foot of the stairs he looked to his left to see Blaze and Vixen sitting near a table. Vixen was laying on her back against the wall, a book in hand. Her tail was slowly shaking in a steady tempo. Nearby was Blaze, who was writing on a paper with his tongue sticking out in pure concentration.

Vixen looked up from her book and saw Spyro entering. She smiled and leaped to her feet, throwing the book aside. "Hey!" she yipped, and walked over to Spyro and hugged him. Spyro tensed as she did so, her body was cold, but it was no surprise as she was an ice dragon. In return he wrapped his arms around her and greeted her back.

Blaze glanced over his shoulder at the two, not saying anything. He looked back down at his paper and scribbled something before setting the pencil down and turning to face them. "Sup, Spyro?" He said.

Spyro released his grip on Vixen, who backed away smiling gingerly, and turned to look at Blaze. "Hey Blaze," he mused. Spyro sat down next to him and Vixen followed, taking up the available spot adjacent to him. Blaze picked up his pencil again and stared down at the paper before him.

Spyro looked down at the paper. "What's that?" he asked.

Without looking up he answered. "Homework." he said simply.

"What kind?" Spyro asked. He glanced at Vixen, who was watching and listening to their conversation.

"Literature." He answered.

Spyro frowned. "I do terrible in that class." He murmured. "Is it hard for you?"

Blaze nodded, finally tearing his eyes away from the paper to look at him. "Yeah, really hard."

"I've been offering him help all week, but he never lets me." Vixen moaned, biting her lip in irritation. Blaze sighed and looked back at his paper, avoiding the conversation. Spyro turned to face her. He was curious to know as literature was something they had never talked about together.

"Are you good at it?" Spyro asked. He angled his body so that he was looking directly at her.

"I'm not the best, but I suppose I'm pretty good."

Spyro grinned. "You need to help me out with it sometime, Vixie."

"Sure," Vixen said. She squinted her eyes and smiled, "But I won't do it for you."

Spyro sighed. "Fine." He looked back over at Blaze. "Can I see your paper?" he asked.

Blaze paused for a second. "No, I want to finish it."

"It would only take a few seconds." Spyro muttered. Blaze shook his head before continuing his scribbling.

Suddenly he remembered what he wanted to tell them. "The new neighbors moved in." He said.

Blaze looked up quickly, his eyes widened. Vixen shared the same expression. "Really?" They both exclaimed, nearly in unison.

Spyro nodded and opened his mouth to tell them about Cynder, but was interrupted. "What do they look like? Is there anyone our age? Did you talk to them?" they crowed, fighting each other to ask their questions.

Spyro hushed both of them and looked at them both, both of them looked like they were about to start shooting questions at him again. Their eyes were wide in excitement, Blazes blue eyes and Vixen's pearly white eyes were gleaming in interest. "They are shadow dragons, I saw one of them." he started, his voice trailing off as the image of Cynder came to mind. His mouth began to water and his eyes began to droop.

Vixen and Blaze, however, were smiling in happiness. Shadow dragons are rare and the opportunity to become friends with one probably excited them. "What did he look like?" Vixen cried out.

"It was a she." Spyro murmured softly, staring into space. Vixen noticed the star-struck look on his face and shot Blaze a look, covering her mouth to quiet a giggle.

"Describe her." Blaze blurted. He rested his head onto his paw, eagerly looking at Spyro.

Spyro closed his eyes and smiled. "Beautiful..." he croaked.

Blaze and Vixen looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "Spyro's got a crush!" they howled.

Spyro snapped back into his senses and frowned. "No I don't!" he argued. He glared at Blaze and growled.

"Now you're getting defensive," he smiled. "I think I know what that means." he jeered.

"Whatever, flame boy." Spyro sneered. "Anyways, I think her name is Cynder."

"Cynder?" Vixen repeated, recoiling her head in surprise. "That's... A unique name."

Spyro nodded his head in agreement. "I feel bad for her though, when I saw her she was crying." he muttered.

"Why?" Blaze asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I don't know why she was crying, probably something to do with her parent." Spyro answered, frowning.

"No, I mean, why do you feel bad for her?"

Spyro glanced at Blaze, narrowing his eyes in anger. "Wouldn't you?"

Blaze blew air out of his nose and sat back. "No."

"I would," Vixen murmured. "I can't stand seeing other people sad." At the sight of Spyro's warm smile she smirked. "Anyways, did you talk to her?"

"I tried, but no." Spyro stammered. "When I tried to approach her someone from inside of the house called her in. That's how I found out what her name was."

Blaze began laughing to himself. Spyro looked at him, bewildered.

"Why do I have the feeling you are going to start stalking her?"

"I'm not going to," Spyro quipped, "Unlike you I respect everyone."

"Doesn't mean you respect their privacy." Blaze accused.

Spyro growled. He swooped forward and snatched Blaze's pencil out of his paws and threw it behind him, all in one motion.

"Don't push it," Blaze warned.

Spyro grinned wryly as he watched Blaze fetch his pencil. He turned back towards Vixen and rested his head onto his paw. "Do you want to go outside and play?" Spyro asked.

Vixen shot him an inscrutable smile and rose to her feet. "I would love to."

Behind them, Blaze was searching the floor for his pencil groaning in frustration. Spyro knew he wasn't going to find it anytime soon. "Blaze, come on, we're going outside to play."

"I want to finish my homework!" he howled.

"You'll have time for that later, come play with us." Spyro said slyly. After waiting patiently for him to come, which he did not, he shrugged and walked up the stairs with Vixen. "Guess not." he murmured. He could hear Blaze mumbling to himself.

"Fine." He drawled.

The three left the house, and as they did Vixen shot off, calling to Spyro over he shoulder to chase her.

Spyro chuckled and took off after her, kicking up dirt in hot pursuit. Blaze, unaware of what was going on, trailed after him.

Her cyan scales made it easy for Spyro to keep her within his sight. After the three looped around the neighborhood and back, they changed paths and ran off back the way they came. As Spyro began to inch closer to her, they had came all the way back to Blaze's house and into the backyard where Vixen leaped into the air and hovered in place using her wings, shooting challenging looks at Spyro who was looking up at her from the ground.

Spyro smirked at her mischievous challenge, he drew back and propelled himself through the air by kicking off of the ground with his powerful back legs. Time seemed to slow down as he drew nearer, his target just within grasp, he stretched his arms out in front of him to try to grab her, but suddenly she twisted her body to an angle, leaving him to fly right past her.

He felt her claws grasp hold of him. He opened his mouth and shrieked in excitement as he realized what she was doing. Spyro could feel the downdraft of her wings beating against him, but her tight grip and fast flapping kept them in the air as she carried him around in circles around the backyard. Blaze watched, his mouth gaping at the sight of his friends flying around simultaneously.

The two met with the ground and collapsed onto their backs, Vixen breathing heavily from her hard work and Spyro breathing heavily from his excitement. Blaze paced over and lied down beside them, smiling happily. Spyro looked over at Vixen, who to his surprise was staring at him, a coy smile written vaguely on her face. He cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"We should race." Blaze said. Spyro agreed and Vixen nodded her head in approval. The two stood up and raced and played other games, not caring that the sun was going down as they played for hours.

Spyro finally came to his senses, realizing that he needed to go back home. By now the sun had disappeared and was replaced by the moon, which glowed a beautiful orange. Spyro said his goodbyes and left, pacing down the street towards his house. He was beginning to worry what his father was going to say or do when he returned. He carefully thought out what he was going to do when he arrived as he entered the park in an attempt to shorten his trip.

The area was hilly and there were plenty of trees scattered about, the perfect place to go for quiet relaxation. Crickets were chirping and the moonlight casted shadows. The darkness almost hid the dragon that was outside with him. Spyro noticed its presence and looked up at the figure, it's curvy shape suggested that it was a female. Whoever it was was laying on their back, staring up at the stars laying whilst holding almost perfectly still.

Spyro was curious to know who it was and left the trail to come closer. He got close enough to make out the face of the dragon. Cynder. He quickly dropped down into a crouch, his underbelly touching the grass. He stared at her, studying her face. She seemed contempt. She wore a straight face, staring blankly at the stars.

Spyro wanted to stay and watch her all night. He tried to creep closer, taking slow steps and keeping his eyes locked on to her. He was wondering if now was his chance to talk to her. He slowly began to stand up, but quickly dropped back down and shook his head. He realized that he didn't know what to talk about. It would only end up awkward and leave Cynder with a bad impression of him. He settled with watching. As he took another step, he stopped and tensed- a twig snapped underneath of his paws. Cynder looked over to where he stood, eyes wide in shock. Her vivid green eyes were glowing in the darkness. Spyro cursed himself and looked around for somewhere to hide. If she saw him she would find him as creepy.

Cynder stood up. "Hello?" she stuttered. Fear was riddled in her voice. She slowly began to come closer.

She came to where he was and looked back and forth. Spyro watched on from where he was, hidden in a nearby tree, where he had quickly snuck to and climbed. It made him feel bad to see her afraid. He wanted to climb down and reveal himself to her but he couldn't. Suddenly she turned around and bolted off towards her own house. Spyro watched as she disappeared from view. He climbed down, ashamed in himself for ruining her repose and scaring her. He too left for home, wishing he hadn't done what he did.


	3. Chapter 3

Like it would every other weekend, Monday eventually crept up on the students of Spyro's school. It was the last thing that Spyro wanted to do, but he woke up anyways as he didn't really have a choice. He gathered his things, said his goodbyes to his Dad, and slammed the door behind him.

Outside it was somewhat chilly. A faint amount of fog lumbered over the grass which was covered in dew. Like usual, Blaze and Vixen had appeared on the sidewalk in front of his house so that they could walk together. Yawning, he bounded across the yard to join them. Vixen and Blaze were peeking across the street at the house in which Cynder lived for the first time.

Blaze smiled groggily smiled, limited by his exhaustion. Spyro frowned, knowing that it was most likely because he was reminded of the news- and the other thing that they had learned. By now both him and Vixen knew that Spyro was interested in her, despite his attempts to hide it. Deep down inside he hoped that he would see her today.

Vixen was the first to say something. Looking over Spyro and Blaze with her tired eyes, she opened her mouth and yawned before speaking. "Good morning," she had said, quite simply.

"Mornin'." Spyro mumbled. The three of them tagged along the sidewalk all the way to their school, each of them with their own awkward early morning gait. The other students were arriving as well, split into their usual groups of friends. It was quiet, though, in fact the silence was almost eerie. Spyro and his friends flooded into the school with the others, off to their first class. Luckily, all three of them shared the same one. It was their math class, and at an inconvenient time in the morning too.

Like they always did, they flocked to the back of the room and sat down in the chairs that they claimed every single day. It was there that their minds slowly began to warm up. The bell rung, and their teacher, Mr. Wyvern , sat back in his chair and gently shook his tail about impatiently. He was one of the most disliked teachers at the school. All he ever did was drink coffee, sit in his chair, and pass out papers. When he wasn't doing any of those things he was asleep on his desk. While it was always funny, it prevented the class from getting anything done.

It was for this reason that the entire class broke out into conversation as, yet again, he had collapsed onto his desk, seeing stars and dreaming the hour away. Spyro curled forward onto his desk, laying his head down onto his paws to look at Vixen, who stared back. One part of her mouth twisted upwards and the other twisted downwards. It was in the mornings that she was the most apathetic of all dragons. Blaze, however, was the one to cause mischief. As tired as he was, Spyro couldn't help but laugh as he walked up to the sleeping Mr. Wyvern and drew all over his head. Obviously, Mr. Wyvern did not notice. He was too busy snoring and what-not.

The laugh that he shared with Vixen- and everyone else for that matter, gave him the much needed early morning energy. Blaze had returned to his desk, smiling to himself. "What did you draw on his head?" He asked Blaze.

Crossing his arms and grinning evilly, Blaze answered. "A fat sheep and a... rather interesting message." Spyro laughed and looked over to Mr. Wyvern. Indeed, a fat sheep was scrawled on his forehead, as well as a few words that were too far away to read.

"Nice job, Blaze," Vixen chimed, "You found a way to ruin our teachers day." She fanned her wings and leaned back into her chair, raising her paws high above her head. Spyro could hear her limbs crack. A sigh of satisfaction came from her throat.

"What did you guys do on Sunday?" Spyro asked, wanting to start a conversation with his friends.

"Nothin'," Blaze mumbled. "My Dad wanted me to stay in for that day and help him clean our house." In his eyes lied visible irritation. At the front of the room had began moving slightly. He crooked his head over to look at him, smiling. Spyro did as well, but the teacher was not awake. He had merely adjusted his sleeping position.

Vixen spoke next. "I went to the park with my brother, I had to watch him." She said. Spyro knew that her brother was still very young. He felt a dash of sympathy, it must have been hard to keep him under control. "How about you, Spyro?"

"Well..." Spyro groaned. "My father forced me to study almost all day. He grounded me too." He sighed. It was probably one of the most boring Sundays he had ever experienced, forced to sit in his room and stare at a paper all day.

"Grounded you from what?" Vixen asked.

"You guys." Spyro frowned. His father got mad at him for leaving without his permission when he returned Saturday night. Vixen shared his disappointed look. Blaze, however, gently smirked.

"And you're actually going to listen to him?" He asked. Spyro shot him an aggravated look.

"Well, he's my father, so..."

"So what?" Blaze murmured. "What kind of father keeps his son away from his best friends?"

Spyro grinned. "By my best friend," Spyro said, putting emphasis on his non-plural use of 'friend', "I think he meant Vixen." He gestured towards her.

Blaze sighed, while Vixen laughed, smiling in an unusual way. "Thanks, Spyro." She murmured.

"You are a pretty bad friend at times." Spyro explained, cocking his head in a joking fashion towards him.

Blaze sat forward into his chair, placing both of his paws onto the desk and clapping them together. "Come on, Spyro," He said, smiling. "You know I'm your favorite." He leaned closer to Vixen, throwing an arm around her shoulder and shaking her gently. "Not miss cold-heart over here."

Spyro shook his head. "Not a chance, flame boy."

Blaze frowned. Spyro could tell it was fake and he was trying to make him laugh. "What if I told you that Vixie here was my favorite?" He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her jokingly. She closed her eyes and smiled from cheek to cheek, purring softly in happiness from all of the attention she was getting.

Spyro shrugged. "Wouldn't care." He said simply. "Besides, I bet that I am Vixen's favorite."

A faint shade of red appeared on her cheeks. "Can we stop fighting over who we like best?" she said.

"Truce?" Blaze asked. He had placed his paw across the desk.

Spyro nodded. "Truce." He agreed. He took hold of Blaze's paw and shook it firmly.

Blaze grinned, the mischievous look returning to his eyes. "You know, our truce doesn't really mean anything." he said, then leaned across the desk and jabbed Spyro in the side, who growled in a playful tone. Vixen giggled as she watched Blaze's action start a miniature war between him and Spyro. She layed her chin onto the table, her eyes darting from both of the boys in turn as they made their moves.

Eventually their battle died down, each of them rubbing their sides with their eyes locked dead onto the other. "You win," Blaze admitted. "But, this ain't over. I'll get you when you least expect it" A grin appeared on his face.

Vixen laughed quietly to herself. Spyro looked at her. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"The things you two do when the oaf falls asleep." she giggled, nodding towards . "You haven't realized that it always makes me laugh when you two are up to something?"

Spyro smiled. "Like this?" he exclaimed, batting Blaze over the head. He growled and jabbed Spyro in the side again.

"More like this," she said, then gently blew towards Blaze. Small blue crystals were expelled from her mouth which faded away quickly. Blaze then began fidgeting in his chair, clasping his paws over his body.

"That's cold!" he yipped.

"Ha, poor little fire dragon doesn't like the cold." Spyro crowed in a light pitched voice.

Blaze grunted. He blew a small puff of fire towards his paws to warm them and rubbed them over his body. Spyro took the moment to smile towards Vixen, approving of her decision to treat Blaze to a little breeze. She, too, was looking towards him. Wearing an indecipherable smile

Spyro wrinkled his nose in confusion, that was the third time this week that she had made such a face towards him. Maybe more, if he was counting the entire month.

Just then, the door to the classroom opened. Spyro looked over, his eyes shooting open. It was not who he thought it was. Instead, it was one of the two principles of the school. Spotting Mr. Wyvern asleep, she yelled, "Again?"

"Wha-?" Mr. Wyvern mumbled, jolting awake and shaking his head in confusion. The drawings on his face were revealed.

"What's that on your forehead?!" the principal shrieked.

The whole thing seemed to amuse Blaze, as he had broken out into laughter, tears of joy forming in his eyes. and the principal spun to face him. The looks on their faces must have amused him too because it only made him laugh harder, sputtering and gasping for air as his lungs reached their limits. He drew in a breath and continued laughing.

The entire class stared at him, dead silent. The two adults mouths hung open and their eyes partly narrowed as Blaze's laughing dragged on. Spyro grinned. Blaze was in for it now.

Suddenly he drew in another breath, his face was a very bright red. "I thin-" he started, breaking off as his breath left his lungs, "I think it's a sheep!" he said.

The principal looked at Mr. Wyvern's head, spotting the drawing of the sheep. Without looking back at Blaze, he slowly spoke. "In. My. Office." She growled. Blaze stopped smiling and rose to his feet, glancing at Spyro and Vixen, whose eyes were wide in surprise.

"See you guys later." He whispered before stalking over to the principal's side and out of the door.

cleared his throat. "Well... Today we will be-" He was interrupted by the bell. Spyro rose to his feet along with Vixen and left the classroom, leaving the dazed to fall asleep yet again.

On their way to their next classroom, which they both had together, Vixen veered closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked side-by-side. From her contact his shoulder became cold. Any other duo of friends would have found it uncomfortable to have such contact, but Spyro was used to it. Vixen had always been very straight-forward with her wants and needs and he would never question was probably a good reason for her to want to.

"Do you feel bad for Blaze?" She asked softly, not removing her head from his shoulder.

"No." He answered. "He deserved to get in trouble for that."

"I don't either." She murmured. Spyro looked at her in surprise.

Spyro gulped. "He's not a bad friend, though. It's just that he... he, uh..."

"...Has a weird way of showing friendship." Vixen finished for him.

"Yeah," Spyro agreed. "Something like that."

"You're a good friend, though, Spyro." She said without hesitating.

Spyro blushed. The sincerity in her voice and the fact that she had said it without her voice quavering hit him hard. He had never thought of himself in such a way. It made him feel good about himself. "Well... thanks." He said.

She finally removed her head from his shoulder. "No, really. I mean it." she said, staring at him.

He uneasily stared back. "I know." he said. "I'm just a little.. flattered, I guess."

"I'm glad." she murmured mysteriously. Spyro shot her a look, unsure what she meant. She must have noticed, because not long after she addressed it. "You are very easy to confuse. It's funny." She smiled.

The two walked into their next class. Literature.

Spyro took the seat in the back corner of the room, Vixen took the seat next to him. When the bell rung their teacher stood to give an announcement. He began saying something about a new student. Spyro's eyes widened and he pricked his ears to listen carefully to what he was saying, but he had already finished. He sat back down and the class began their work. After a few minutes, the teacher decided to put everyone into groups.

Luckily, Spyro was assigned with Vixen. She pulled her desk closer to Spyro's and the two were given a sheet to work on together. It was a long assignment and neither of them knew how to do it.

"How about we split it in half?" Spyro suggested. "I'll do the first half and you do the second."

Vixen nodded and Spyro began working on it, albeit very slowly. The questions were hard for him. Some of them were asking for him to define and use lengthy and confusing words in sentences. He had only completed three of them before the door to the classroom opened.

"Ah," the teacher hummed, "Everyone, this is our new student, Cynder."

Spyro froze and looked up quickly. Beside the teacher stood the black dragoness, Cynder. She awkwardly looked around the classroom, her face hot with embarrassment. She looked down and began to shuffle her feet. Spyro found that he was beginning to stare. He glanced over at Vixen. She was too.

He saw the teacher whisper something to Cynder, then suddenly he pointed over to where he and Vixen were seated. He realized that she was being placed in their group of two because everyone else was in groups of three. Spyro gulped as she made her way over to them shyly, but there was nowhere for her to sit. Spyro stood up to fetch a chair for her, but out of nowhere Vixen stood up.

"You can sit here." she said blankly, staring at her. Spyro reddened as she took the seat next to him. He looked away towards Vixen, who had brought a chair over to their desks. She was staring at him, now. She almost looked angry.

"T-Thanks." Cynder murmured. From the corner of his eye he could see Cynder glance at him. He tried his best to resist the urge to look at her. Now was his chance. He had to say something to her.

Spyro gulped and turned towards her. "Uh, hi Cynder." He mentally slapped himself for his awkward greeting. Cynder looked up at him, her vivid green eyes pierced his own.

"Hi." She said slowly before looking down at the paper. Spyro could see her eyes skimming through the text. "Can I see that?" she asked softly, pointing towards Spyro's pencil. He quickly handed it to her. She began writing down the answers to the questions. Spyro watched in amazement, she was finishing them in less than a minute each. What would have taken him and Vixen the entire hour in the class to complete she was doing in seconds.

In no time she had finished the entire paper. She looked over her work, nodding her head in approval before holding the pencil out for Spyro to take it.

He slowly reached for it, grasping it in his hand. He accidently touched her paw and they both pulled away quickly. He felt his face go red. "Sorry." He said, looking down at his feet.

"You're really good." he heard Vixen say dully.

"Thanks." Cynder said.

Spyro turned to face them. "Y-yeah, you are pretty good."

"I could help you both if you want." she offered.

Spyro licked his lips quickly. "That's not necessary," he chuckled awkwardly.

"That means yes." Vixen said. Spyro shot her a look, telling Vixen with his eyes alone that she needed to keep to herself.

"OK. I mean it really wouldn't be a problem on my part, so I really can help you both if you want me to."

Vixen grabbed the paper and looked at it. "I don't think either of us need that, thanks anyways."

Spyro frowned. "Actually, I could probably use some-"

"No, Spyro." Vixen snapped. Spyro glared at her angrily while Cynder only shrunk down into her chair whilst looking away from the both of them.

Spyro cleared his throat, putting emphasis on it as much as he can to show his anger. He finally broke his gaze from Vixen to look towards Cynder. "Hey, uh, Cynder?" Spyro said. She looked up at him. "Since you are new to this town, I can show you around if you'd like."

She stared at him thoughtfully. "Sure, I'd like that." she answered. Spyro felt his heart begin to pound faster. "How about after school?" He suddenly felt like bursting into celebration.

"Um... Ok." He was not expecting her to accept his offer. "Meet me in front of your house sometime after school, I live across the street from you." Spyro began to listen very carefully, as he thought he heard an unusual sound. After a moment he recognized it as metal grinding against something hard. It was coming from Vixen, her tail blade screeching as it dug into the floor.

"Oh?" Cynder murmured. "That's cool, I guess." She blinked three or four times quickly, narrowing her eyes. "What's your name, by the way?"

"My name is Spyro." He answered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "She's Vixen." He added, pointing towards her. He could see Vixen force a smile as Cynder turned towards her. Spyro glared at her, mouthing the words, "Be nice." Vixen smiled in an angry way. Spyro was beginning to wonder what her problem was. Was she doing this just to make him look bad?

"Hi," Cynder said softly, raising a paw to give a small wave towards Vixen, who greeted her back. Spyro took the opportunity to gaze at Cynder while her back was turned. There were markings near the top of her front legs, something he hadn't noticed when he saw her the day before.

"I take it that you two are friends?" Cynder asked, smiling lightly. Spyro could tell that she was trying her best to make herself look as friendly as possible. He quietly chuckled to himself. He was too.

"Yeah." Vixen said, biting her lip. Spyro was really beginning to get angry. In her voice he picked up a trace of sarcasm.

Cynder turned to face him. This time he tried his best not to turn away as she did. The urge to do so was almost overpowering, but he just barely pulled through. Her glowing eyes met with his own and it finally took over. He looked to the front of the room, pretending to read what was on the board.

"You have pretty eyes." he said. He tensed, he did not mean to say that... it slipped from his tongue by accident, he quickly glanced at her, expecting her to be disgusted.

She was not, at least she didn't look she was. "Um... thanks." she murmured. He looked past her towards Vixen. She, however, seemed to be. A large frown carved into her face as she stared at him. He found himself wondering why she seemed so mad all of a sudden.

Vixen finally broke her gaze away from Spyro to look at Cynder. "Can I ask you something?" she said firmly. Seeing Cynder nod gently she slumped forward onto her desk. Vixen opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head. "Nevermind, actually."

Cynder cocked her head. "Are you alright?" she asked Vixen. When she saw the confused look on her face she continued, "You look like something is bothering you."

"Nothing is bothering me." she answered. Spyro could have sworn that he saw her glance at him quickly after she had spoke. Spyro wanted to ask her himself, he opened his mouth to speak.

The bell rung, interrupting their conversation. Spyro sighed and stood up. He glanced at Cynder,curious to know what she was doing. She was walking up to the front of the room to talk to the teacher. He stalked out of the classroom, disappointed in himself. Vixen followed him, frowning.

Spyro decided now was the time to find out what was going on with her. He found himself staring at her, instead. Somehow he managed to become distracted and forgot what he wanted to do. Ironically it was Vixen to speak first.

"Good job, Spyro." she had said. It was when she did that Spyro noticed the sarcastic tone to her voice.

Spyro narrowed his eyes. Best friend or not, she was really beginning to aggravate him. He stopped walking and put his paw in her way to halt her. She turned to face him, staring him dead in the eyes. "What is wrong with you?" he snapped.

"Wrong with _me_?" she growled, "What is wrong with _you_?" She began to whip her tail back and forth behind her.

"What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything. You are." Upon saying this Vixen had began to growl, a furious look appearing in her eyes.

"I don't like you around her." she hissed.

Spyro tensed. This is what it was all about? "Why do you care if I'm around her?" he demanded.

"Because I..." She stopped. Spyro noticed her body suddenly relax, her angry look disappearing. Without warning it returned. "It doesn't matter, I don't like her."

"That's great," he muttered sarcastically. "But if you don't like her, then why are you being so hostile towards me?" She opened her mouth to argue, but he stopped her, narrowing his eyes. "I think you're jealous... About what, I don't know, but you need to stop."

Vixen suddenly tensed."I have no reason to be jealous of her." she growled. Spyro noticed that she was beginning to get defensive.

"Really?" he exclaimed, "Would you care to explain to me why you could care less when I told you about her when we were at Blaze's house, but when you finally see her in person you decide to act like this?"

Vixen laughed. "Don't act like you know everything about me, Spyro. I bet that you're just mad because I'm the only girl you can talk to without tripping over yourself."

"You keep telling yourself that." he growled, "Either way, you can't stop me from talking to Cynder, so you can give up whatever it is you're trying to do."

Vixen's eyes softened and seemed to become wet. "You have fun, then. I hope the best for you and your new friend." she said angrily.

"I can guarantee you that I will." he growled. With that, he spun around and continued walking down the hall towards his final class, leaving Vixen to continue hurling insults at him. While he didn't show it, deep down inside every word she said had hurt him. The last dragon he would ever want to argue with was Vixen, one of his only friends. He entered his classroom, angry from the moment it started all the way until the bell rang and he walked back out.

But now he was no longer angry. Instead he was feeling guilty. He made his way to the place that him, Blaze, and Vixen would always meet after school to regroup and walk home together. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't know what to apologize for. He was the first of his friends to arrive at their meeting place. He was now beginning to think of what to say to Vixen. He was given a while to come up with something, as nobody had came for more than ten minutes, leaving him to stand there by himself awkwardly.

"Sup, Spyro. Just got out of the office," he heard Blaze say. He turned to face him, expecting Vixen to be standing beside him. It was only him. "Is Vixen here yet?" he asked.

"No, I don't know where she is." Spyro muttered dully, shaking his head in dismay. He realized that she was not going to arrive any time soon. "She told me that she needed to go home by herself, though."

"Ah," Blaze nodded, "Guess she needs a little bit of alone time." he said, clicking his tongue and grinning. Upon seeing that Spyro was not laughing, or smiling for that matter, he cocked an eyebrow. "Whatever, let's go." Spyro nodded and followed him outside.

* * *

After their walk had come to an end outside of Spyro's house, instead of going in he sat outside as Blaze disappeared down the sidewalk in the direction of his own home. Spyro chose to clamber over his fence and climb up the tree in his backyard to wait. As he reached the top a small group of birds had took flight, cawing as they were fleeing from the purple dragon. He sighed, irritated that it was not possible to communicate with them. Upon reaching the highest branch he stretched himself out, letting his legs dangle freely from the edges of the branch. He spread his wings out to his side to help him balance. Upon positioning himself to where he could not possibly fall he folded them back into place and looked back towards the birds who were rapidly ascending.

He never had intentions to hurt them. Instead he watched them in curiosity. He noticed how high up they had traveled, much higher than he himself could fly as his wings were not yet large enough to carry him up against the downdraft of the atmosphere. He wondered what it was that allowed them to do so. Perhaps their small size meant less weight? Spyro nodded, accepting his idea as the answer. He closed his eyes, wanting to work a small nap into his wait.

He could hear the wind blowing, birds chirping, muffled conversations from other houses, and even the wind lapping through the air. Another thing that he had heard was the sharp bang of the door across the street. He opened his eyes and lifted his head to gaze across the street. Sure enough, there was the black dragoness. He smiled and leapt from the tree, spreading his wings to his side to glide down towards her.

He could see her lift her head up to look at him as his paws made contact with the ground and he skidded to a stop. "Nice entrance." She said.

Spyro grinned. "Thanks." He said. "Are you ready to go?"

She frowned. "About that." she muttered, looking at the ground in disappointment.

He, too, began to frown. His main reason for wanting to show her around was to try to get closer to her. "You can't come?" he asked sadly.

"No... My dad said that I can't."

"You shouldn't have asked him for permission, then. We could have snuck out."

Cynder winced, probably at the thought of disobeying her father. "I don't like getting in trouble. I would never do that."

"Can we at least talk?" Spyro asked. Perhaps there was still a hope for him to spend some time around her.

She smiled. "Yeah." Suddenly she dropped into a crouch. "Come over here, though." With that, she turned around and made her way over to a very low hanging tree. It's branches fell close to the ground and it's leaves were like a large canopy that concealed the radius near the trunk. Cynder pushed past the barrier-like leaves and disappeared from sight. Spyro followed, the leaves tickling his scales as he too pushed past.

Cynder was laying down near the center. "Come on in," she said happily.

Spyro, smiling from cheek to cheek, paced to the center and lied down as well, perpendicular to the tree's trunk. He kept a small distance between his body and hers. "So, why here?" he asked.

"So that my dad can't see me talking to you. He'd probably get mad." she answered.

"You're awfully obedient." Spyro commented. "Can't say the same for myself, though." He smiled, remembering all of the fun things that rebelling against his father's commands had brought him.

"Yeah, I guess." she said. Spyro could tell from the look on her face that she wanted the topic to change.

Spyro decided that he wanted to apologize. "I'm sorry about Vixen, by the way," he said, "She's not usually like that, I don't know what's gotten into her lately."

Cynder frowned. "She must not like me, I guess."

Spyro raised his paw to place it on her shoulder but quickly stopped. He had always been used to comforting Vixen like that whenever she was upset, but this was not her. "Give her some time. She'll change." he assured her. Secretly he disagreed, she did not seem like she would change at all judging by the way she was acting.

"I hope so. She seems like she would be a nice person, I'm sure."

"Cynder, do you think I'm a nice person?" he asked accidently. He mentally slapped himself. He gazed at her, worried about her answer.

She merely cocked her head in confusion. "I just met you, I don't know what to think just yet." she answered.

Spyro bit his lips, relieved that her answer was what he had received. He was expecting a different and much more devastating answer. "Sorry, I'm just really straight forward I guess." he mentioned, trying to make it look like his question was a normal one.

"Yeah, I can see that." she said. She rolled over onto her back and spread her wings out to lie limp on the ground, peering over towards Spyro and watching him for a moment.

"Is there any chance that I could see you again sometime this week?" Spyro asked.

Cynder shook her head. "My father won't allow it. He keeps me inside almost every single day."

"We've got this tree," Spyro said whilst gesturing towards it's trunk in an attempt to be funny, but his humor was rusty. She smirked anyways. "There's still school though." he mentioned.

"Well, I'm glad I've found a friend already." she murmured. Spyro was unsure if she said it accidently or if she meant for him to hear that.

Spyro smiled. "Me?" he asked.

Cynder began to playfully bat at a small patch of tall grass, whipping the strands back and forth. "Well, maybe not exactly a friend just yet, I've still got to decide on that." she murmured happily.

"Oh," Spyro hummed, somewhat sadly. "That's alright, though. I'm confident that you'll find something in me that will make me friend-worthy." Atleast he hoped.

She smirked gently. She tore up a pawful of grass and threw into the air, watching as it rained down. "You may or may not be off to a good start," she said while still watching the grass, smiling.

"Great." Spyro grumbled through closed teeth. He hoped that she said that as a joke. "It seems like you are testing me."

Cynder stopped playing with the grass and turned to look at him. A smile crossed her face. "Precisely." She dug her claws into the ground and heaved herself closer to the tree, propping herself against it's trunk.

"You're starting to make me a little nervous," Spyro said truthfully. "One word and you'll probably kick me out of your tree..." he looked around the inside of the tree, "... fortress... thingy."

"Maybe not_ that_ harsh. I'm fair, I guess."

Spyro narrowed his eyes and examined her facial expressions. Her lips were pursed and she did not seem as nervous or shy as she did in school. "You're a lot more talkative outside of school." he commented.

Cynder frowned. "Too many eyes on me at once. Your friend- Vixen, I think- wasn't making it any better."

"Sorry," he groaned. "Like I said, She'll get over it."

"Tell me a bit about yourself." she said suddenly.

Spyro thought for a moment, a soft humming sound emitting from his throat subconsciously. "Well... I don't really know how to describe myself. What do you want to know?"

She laughed. "Anything, really. Just something to help me learn more about you. Things like interests, hobbies, likes, dislikes... stuff like that. After all, I'm testing you."

Spyro could feel her burning stare locked on to him. He gulped. "I like to draw, I suppose. I love being with my friends... I- I don't know. I'm a boring individual."

Cynder frowned. "Wow, you really _don't_ know how to describe yourself it seems." She opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it, looking up to the top of the tree thoughtfully. An idea must have came to her mind as her face lit up and she looked back towards him. "I have an idea, I'll ask you questions and you answer them. That way we have something to actually talk about."

He sighed mentally. He must have been boring her to death. "Fair enough." he declared and cocked his head awaiting her first question.

The two found themselves staring at each other, Cynder unable to come up with what to ask and Spyro patiently waiting for her first question. It could not have gotten any more awkward. "How about I ask you questions instead?" Spyro asked, finally breaking the silence. She nodded. He thought for a moment, realizing that he, too, did not know what to ask. A few questions began to run through his mind, one of them in particular he was curious to have answered, but he wanted to wait before asking it. He settled with, "Where are you from?"

"A place far from here. I never found out what it was called, though." she had answered. She rolled back over to lay down on her belly. "How about you?"

"I've lived here for as long as I can remember." he revealed. "And yes, it has become bothersome." He licked his lips. "Is this conversation boring you?" he asked, staring her in the eyes uneasily. Because they were alone he found it easy to gather the confidence to look her in the eyes.

"N-no... I kind of want to get to know you since we are neighbors, and we go to the same school." After hearing this, Spyro frowned slightly, unsure whether or not she was being honest. The last thing he wanted to do was create the image that he was boring and have her never talk to him again. "Please, continue." she said.

"I really want to know about your parents." he said, although feeling as though the question was too personal. But from what he saw and heard the first time he layed eyes on her he felt as though it was necessary to find out.

Cynder crawled towards the branches and lifted a portion of it with her paws, peering underneath to look at her house. She sighed and let it fall back down before turned back towards him. "My father isn't necessarily the nicest of all. Sometimes I think that he doesn't even want me around." she said, looking at the ground. "As for my mother, Well... I don't know anything about her."

Spyro felt bad for her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said, looking up at him. "I've gotten by just fine with him." Spyro felt as though she wasn't being completely honest. "How about your parents?" she asked.

"My father has his good days and his bad days, I know that he cares about me but he has a funny way of showing it." he said, shaking his head. "My mother died when I was still a hatchling." He frowned heavily, feeling his eyes become wet.

Cynder sat up, clasping her paws over her mouth. Without saying a word she came closer and lied beside him. "It's my turn to say I'm sorry," she murmured, staring at him sadly.

Spyro shrugged. "It's life, those things happen and there's nothing you can do about them," he said dully. He did not feel like asking questions anymore. In fact, he wasn't in the mood to talk- not even with Cynder.

"Why don't we just walk for a while?" Cynder suggested in a soft voice. Spyro dug his claws into the ground and shook his head.

"I need to go home." he muttered, his voice quavering. While he did not take his eyes off of the ground, he could still see Cynder studying him, frowning slightly. She did not say a word as he rose to his feet and crawled out from the tree, slowly walking across the grass towards his house.

"Take care." she called. Spyro did not respond, as he did not even hear her. He did, however, hear the door shut. He glanced over his shoulder, sighing in disappointment before turning away and crossing the street.

Please take a second to leave a review, any kind of feedback helps me in more ways than you can imagine.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wake up, Spyro," a voice says, a frustrated grumble came next, then a sharp knock on the back of the head. As the purple dragon groans and opens his eyes, his vision adjusted and the surroundings came into focus, that of a grassy field filled only by a few trees and the dragon who had woke him. Tired and sore, but he had no recollection of falling asleep. "Look at me," the dragon demanded.

"Wha-" Spyro murmured, twisting his body to look behind him. The dragon had paced closer to him, looking down towards him as he lied down in the grass. "Blaze? Where are we?"

"Where do you think? The park, of course." Blaze answered, eyeing him in confusion. "Why are you here?"

Spyro stood to his feet and shook himself to get rid of some of the grass that stuck to his stomach. "I don't know how I got here. You woke me up and here I am." He sat down on his haunches and peered past Blaze to look at some of the dragons who were doing their own things.

"Fair enough." Blaze looked Spyro over. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine, It's not like someone drugged me and left me here." he responded, chuckling to himself. He couldn't guarantee that he was not drugged, anything could have happened to him.

"Mentally, I mean." He smiled and playfully pushed him, growling in amusement.

Spyro shoved him back and grinned. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

"I wasn't joking. Anyways, you picked a good spot to drop dead." Blaze laughed.

Spyro growled gently and stood back up. He suppressed a yawn and ran his paw down his flank to get rid of the tiny strands of grass that remained stuck to his body. He must have been sleeping for a while because it would typically take a few hours for grass to become as stuck as it was. "I am still alive and kicking, my legs are sore though."

Blaze blew air out of his nose and grinned. "Stop complaining, you're lucky to get any peace and quiet now that the week has started."

"I guess. It's been a stressful day for me so far, but you wouldn't know that." He fanned his wings out to his side and leaned forward to stretch his legs far in front of him.

"You were just laying here, sleeping like you had no care in the world. Did you come here after school?"

"How do you expect me to know? I told you, I don't know how I got here." He cocked his head towards the sun. It was directly above, signifying that it was midday. He narrowed his eyes. "You brought me here, didn't you?"

Blaze shook his head. "Why would I even bother? I was just going for a stroll when I noticed you laying here," He tapped the top of his head, "You're letting your mind slip loose."

Spyro frowned. He had a vague memory of what he had done earlier. It was just like any other normal day, he went to school and he... he halted his thoughts and frowned even more. He got in an argument with Vixen over Cynder, and later he had a small conversation with Cynder, that was the last thing he remembered doing. "Maybe not entirely," he remarked, turning away and starting to walk away. "Come on, lets walk."

Blaze came to his side, matching Spyro's pace as they stepped foot onto a trail. "Heh. You're very good at boring people to death." Blaze chuckled.

"And you are any less? At least I'm not the one to get on people's nerves."

Blaze suddenly changed the topic. "Are you gonna tell me what it was you were doing or no?" Spyro could see Blaze glance at him in confusion.

Proving my point, Spyro thought. "How many times do I have to tell you?" He sighed. "All that I can remember is leaving Cynder's house and crossing the street to go to mine, and thats it. Something must have happened along the way."

"Like?"

"I don't know, Blaze. I probably went to the park to find some peace to myself and forgot every step I took to get there." Spyro shook his head.

"Alright, whatever. I just find it a little weird to find you passed out in the middle of the park." Blaze said. "Oh, and talking about weird. I stopped by Vixen's house to give her a little visit earlier. She was acting odd." Blaze frowned slightly but glanced at Spyro, waiting for his inevitable question.

"What do you mean, acting odd?" He dipped his head in guilt, knowing that it probably had something to do with him.

Blaze looked over his shoulder towards the general direction where Vixen lived. "Well, if yelling at your best friend to leave when they stop by to say hi isn't odd, I don't know what is." He sighed, then looked up at Spyro. "Listen, I know I can be annoying sometimes..." Spyro shot him a look. "... Well, often times, but she has never acted like this."

"I think I know why she is, at least what she said it was. She snapped at me earlier too." He felt like he was exaggerating, as he might have been the one to entice her sudden aggression. "It's about Cynder. I think she's jealous."

To Spyro's frustration, Blaze had laughed upon hearing his explanation. "Vixen is not the type to be jealous, that's preposterous. But... you know, it's possible. Besides, I haven't seen this Cynder of yours yet, maybe she really is all that and Vixen wants what shes got." He smirked and nudged Spyro.

Spyro growled and shoved his paw away. "Whatever, I won't brag. But that's not necessarily it. I think that she said she doesn't like me around her or something like that."

"Are you going to listen to her?" Blaze asked, his smile dying away.

"No." Spyro winced, then breathed out. "I... I like Cynder. A lot. Vixen has no authority over me." Spyro realized that Blaze already knew that he liked her. But Spyro also knew that Cynder did not feel the same way.

"Working on both sides of the line, huh?" Blaze grinned. "For what it's worth, I'll help you."

Spyro cocked his head in surprise. "Help? With what?"

Blaze stopped walking, Spyro halted as well. "I can be a jerk sometimes. I know that. But the least I can do for you is to help you get Vixen back on our side. And Cynder on yours." Blaze reared back and put his paw into the air.

Spyro smiled and clapped one of his own paws into Blaze's, grasping it and shaking it. "Good to hear you're on my side, flame boy."

"No problem. Just give me some time to make up some sort of plan. It won't be easy getting Vixie to cooperate." Blaze said, then turned around and took off. "I've gotta split, stop by later and I'll probably have something. See you later Spyro!" he yelled

Spyro watched Blaze leave until he eventually disappeared behind the trees and bushes. He sighed. There was a lot to be done if he wished to get his friend back and still try to get closer to Cynder. If Vixen could not be persuaded he would be one friend short of what he always had. He paced back over to where he had slept and lied down over the imprint of his body that he had left, closing his eyes.

* * *

Spyro knocked on the door and slumped back. After waiting for a few moments he knocked again. "Anyone home?" he yelled.

The door suddenly opened to reveal Blaze. "Didn't know it was you, my bad. Come in." He stepped aside and Spyro walked in.

"What do you mean, not knowing it was me?" Spyro asked. All of the lights in the house were off except for the basement light. Spyro started down the stairs.

"I thought you were Vixen, trying to apologize. I want to get back at her." Blaze explained, "I'm just evil like that."

Spyro frowned. Indeed, he was. "Where's your dad, by the way?"

"Oh, he's out of town. It's just me for a week or so."

"Well, what do you have for me?" Spyro asked as she stepped foot into the basement. On a table was a large paper and a light that hung over to illuminate it.

Blaze threw himself onto a chair, rolling it over to the table and grasping a pencil. He quickly drew a large circle to highlight the entire paper with his tongue sticking out. "This. This is the plan. Feast your eyes." He handed the paper to Spyro, who took it, laughing.

"You drew out your plan?" Spyro giggled.

"Bad memory," Blaze frowned, shaking his head. "I would have forgot everything if I hadn't drawn it out."

"I see." Spyro murmured. A drawing in the top left caught his attention, marked as step one. The drawing was of Vixen, but very poorly drawn. Her face was colored slightly red to illustrate anger. Underneath of the drawing was a sentence, but Spyro couldn't read it.

Blaze glanced at Spyro, his grin of self pride disappearing as he realized that he couldn't read his handwriting. "It's a representative of giving Vixen time to adjust."

Spyro nodded and put the paper onto the desk, leaning into to look at it whilst giving Blaze a look, understanding he could interpret the pictures for him. His eyes were led to step two. A drawing of a dark colored dragon, void of any facial features, was near Vixen, who still looked somewhat angry. Underneath of that drawing was a purple dragon and the dark dragon. Spyro recognized the purple dragon in the drawing as himself. "Why doesn't Cynder have a face in these drawings?" he asked, looking at Blaze.

"I don't know what she looks like yet. It's a representation of slowly introducing Vixie to Cynder, while you get closer to Cynder, by the way."

Spyro felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. Was this how his friends saw him and Cynder? He hasn't even been around Cynder very long and they were already forming these ideas of him and her? "Alright. Just sum up what you are trying to do, here." Spyro said. As he did, he skimmed through the other drawings. He frowned slightly when he saw the drawing for step five.

It was him and Cynder, his flank and hers touching.

Blaze followed his eyes to the drawing and noticed his frown. "What? Isn't that what you want?"

"I would want that... but it might not be. This entire plan might not even be a thing. I don't know if I can win her heart." he admitted dully. "You're acting like we both already share these feelings."

"In time, maybe. Come on Spyro, have some hope."

"I'm not in this for her looks," Spyro said quickly. Upon seeing Blaze's wry grin he continued, "Well, maybe... but I like her for other reasons. I can't describe them."

Blaze shook his head. "Pathetic. Well, whatever." He sat back in his chair and sighed. "Basically, the point of all this is for you and I to try to get Vixen comfortable with Cynder while you give both of them an equal amount of attention."

"You and I?" Spyro mimicked. "Just Vixen for you. I don't think Cynder would appreciate your personality." He shook his head.

"I'm putting my friendship on the line here, dude. Let me help you. Did I ever tell you my nickname?"

"Which one?" Spyro muttered. "Frisky or burden?"

Blaze grinned and lifted his paws to illustrate his words. "The love doctor."

"Sure, flame boy." Spyro couldn't help but laugh. "Last time I checked it was the complete opposite. Oh, and about Vixen?" Spyro asked.

"What about her?" Blaze urged.

"Did she mention me at all today?" Spyro asked. He was slightly worried.

Blaze shook his head. "Nope. All she said to me- well... screamed at me was, 'Get out of here, Blaze!' Clearly, I took off. I'm not trying to find out if Vixen has a bad side."

"She probably does." Spyro said regretfully. Her bad side was starting to show, something neither he or Blaze has ever seen.

"Why do you ask?" Blaze asked, leaning towards the desk and propping his head up with one of his paws.

Spyro hesitated. "Well, I told you about how she snapped at me. I was just worried that she was going to start rumors or something like that."

"Nope, she didn't mention you at all. Like I said, the only thing she did was scream at me. She kind of sounded like she was crying, too." Blaze's smile disappeared.

He made up his mind. "I think I'll stop by and see if she'll talk to me." Spyro said.

Blaze's eyes widened. "You better be careful, Spyro. If a voice could kill, Vixen would be a cold-blooded murderer. I was legitimately scared by her tone, I've never heard her like that."

Spyro gulped. Was he making the right decision? "I'll do it tomorrow, It's getting late and I need to go to sleep."

"Alright. You be careful with Vixen, though. I don't want you getting torn to pieces by her."

Spyro gulped. "I will, see you later." With that, Spyro went up the stairs and left. As he closed the door behind him, he collapsed against it, breathing out slowly.

What was going to happen?


	5. Chapter 5

Spyro sat back in his chair and sighed as the bell rang. The first class of the day had begun and it was not going to be as fun as it should be, this he knew. Like always, Mr. Wyvern was on the verge of falling asleep, clearly having trouble keeping his eyes open. It would be just like any other day- but it wasnt. Blaze sat across from him in his usual spot, but Vixen was nowhere to be found. He was slightly aggravated, but more than anything he was worried. Blaze did not seem to care about her absence.

Surprisingly, Mr. Wyvern found the energy to stand to his feet and begin teaching, his back being turned towards the students keeping him from noticing that no one cared. Spyro rolled his eyes, not interested in any way. He crumbled up a piece of paper and threw it at Blaze to get his attention, hitting the side of his snout. As expected, Blaze spun his head to look at him.

"What do you want?" he asked somewhat loudly, completely contradicting the quiet exchange Spyro had hoped for.

"Your attention, and I got it." Spyro replied in a low tone. "I don't plan on dying of boredom so early in the day, so come over here." he said, patting the chair next to him.

Blaze stood and went around the table to sit down in the chair, turning his body away from the front of the room where the teacher stood and towards Spyro. "If you're trying to get me to entertain you the answer is no. I'm not in the mood."

"I'm not in the mood to be entertained so no thanks. It's about Vixen."

Blaze shook his head and leaned in closer. "I knew it. Just stop worrying about her, we don't need her around anyways. She's probably just trying to get us to feel guilty."

"So you're not concerned that she's not here? What if she did something to herself?" he asked, almost regretting it. He didn't even want to think about something happening to Vixen.

To Spyro's surprise, Blaze's face twisted into a slightly scared expression- something that he wouldn't do. "When you say that, I kinda am." he said truthfully. He looked around the room uneasily. "I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not worried, now. I am really scared that she might."

Spyro looked down at his paws. "This is all my fault." he groaned.

"No, It's not." Blaze said quietly. "You didn't do anything. And you can't just drop your feelings for Cynder because Vixen is responding so badly to it, remember what we talked about yesterday?"

Spyro nodded. "I remember." he said, frowning.

"Alright, good. Keep in mind that you're in the crossfire of Cynder and Vixen. Who are you trying to get?" Blaze asked.

"Cynder." Spyro muttered.

"I can't hear you, speak up." Blaze said, smiling.

"Cynder!" Spyro murmured, slightly louder but still near a whisper.

Blaze patted him on the back. "That's right, Spyro. And what is Vixen?"

"My best friend?" Spyro asked.

"Exactly. She has no authority over your life, remember that."

"But she's going to stay hostile forever if we don't do something about her." Spyro reminded him.

Blaze thought for a moment. "We'll stop by her house later, you and me. We will-" he broke off, looking towards the door. Spyro followed his gaze.

Vixen walked into the room and over to Mr. Wyvern. The two had a quick talk then split. Mr. Wyvern went back to his desk and made a mark on a paper. Vixen crept to the back of the room, but not towards Spyro and Blaze. She sat by herself in an empty chair in the opposite corner from where the two sat.

Blaze gulped and turned around in his chair to watch her, Spyro doing the same. "Cancel that." he said.

"This just got a whole lot more awkward." Spyro muttered, his eyes locked onto Vixen. She did not look like she was angry at all, and she definitely did not look like she had been harmed in any way. Spyro sighed in relief.

"What are gonna do?" Blaze whispered. Both of them were leaning over their chairs, ducking slightly.

"We could try to talk to her..." he turned around, jabbing Blaze in his side, "...Or keep staring and give us away." he hissed. Blaze turned around quickly and frowned, rubbing the spot where Spyro jabbed him.

"You're on your own, the hours almost over and you have her for your next class." Blaze said, covering a smile.

Spyro frowned and looked over his shoulder at Vixen. He quickly looked away as her head turned towards him. He glanced at Blaze. "You're a terrible wingman." he muttered.

Blaze smiled. "Thanks. I'd help but I value my life."

The bell rung. Spyro stood up to leave. "Just remember the other thing you promised to help with." he said. Blaze nodded and Spyro left for the next class. Let the fun begin, he thought.

* * *

Spyro sat down in his chair, the sounds of him doing so adding to the ripple of sounds that came from the others taking their seats. He looked up at the door and spotted Cynder walking in, a few moments later Vixen entered as well, visibly keeping her distance from the black dragoness. Vixen took a seat not too far away from him, whilst Cynder sat at the very front. She turned around and noticed him looking at her. She waved at him.

Spyro smiled and waved back, but frowned when he realized that she did not see it as she had already sat down. He glanced at Vixen, who to his surprise was also looking at him, her eyes narrowed in curiosity. A side of Spyro's mouth twitched and he quickly looked away. She looked like she was spying on him. His face reddened at the thought of her still watching him. Play it cool, Spyro, he thought to himself.

After a few minutes, the teacher uttered the words that Spyro did not want to hear. He gulped. Group work... with the same peers as the day before. He cursed to himself, could the situation be any worse? He rose to his feet and went to the back of the room, followed by the two dragonesses. Cynder did notice the stare Vixen was maintaining on her as they both sat on opposite sides of him- Vixen to his right and Cynder to his left. A stack of three papers landed on the desk in front of him.

Cynder cleared her throat and leaned in to snatch all three papers, which were originally intended to be split between each of them. She immediately began working on it. Without looking up, she spoke the first words. "Hi Spyro." she said in a friendly tone, but in a slightly grittier tone she lifted her head to peer past him, locking her eyes onto the other dragoness. "Hello, Vixen." she said dryly.

Vixen glared at her challengingly. "Hi." she said firmly. Spyro's eyes darted between the two, leaning back shyly. He did not want to get involved in their... Feud. The chair to his right squeaked as Vixen brought it within hugging distance to him, but her eyes remained fixed onto Cynder as she looked back at the paper to continue her work. As she came closer he could make out the nearly silent growl that came from Vixen's throat. He gulped and glanced at her. If looks could kill... Cynder would die instantly.

"So... Um, Vixie?" He started slowly. He licked his lips and opened his mouth to try to calm her.

Vixen slowly cocked her head to look up at him. "Don't call me that anymore." she said roughly. Spyro nodded quickly and clenched his jaws together, completely silent. His eyes trailed downwards to look at his paws, which was when he noticed Vixen slowly moving her paw closer to his. She must have saw that he noticed because she quickly pulled her paw away and slumped forward. "Please, forgive me. What did you want?" she said in a much softer tone.

Spyro looked at her in confusion. That was definitely not the tone he expected, why such a sudden change? "I just wanted to ask you how you are feeling?" he said, tensing as he awaited a hostile reaction.

"Do you want an honest answer?" she asked, staring at him coldly.

Spyro reddened. "S-sure?"

She leaned in closer to him, not breaking her gaze. "Horrible." she said sharply. "You should already know that, Spyro. You above anyone else."

Cynder looked up, frowning. "Vixen, he didn't do anything, just give him a break."

Vixen suddenly pushed Spyro out of the way. "Oh, now you're defending him?" she growled furiously, "You don't know me, and you don't know him like I do."

"I don't? I know that you two are best friends. You should be getting along." She retorted, setting her pencil down and turning to face Vixen.

"We _were_ best friends... Until you showed up." Vixen hissed. "You ruined everything for me."

"What are you talking about?" Cynder exclaimed.

Vixen drew her mouth back into a snarl. "Do you really think you can just show up and take him from me?" She growled.

"I haven't taken anything from you!" Cynder protested

"Don't lie to me, I know exactly what you two are up to."

Cynder glanced at Spyro. "What is she talking about?" she asked.

Spyro tensed and sat forward, trying his best to sit between the two. "I have no idea," he said. He turned towards Vixen. "What are you trying to say?" he asked angrily.

"Don't you dare act like I don't know," she growled.

"I don't think you even know anything about me, you need to back off." Cynder said sharply. Spyro saw the look of fear on her face.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? You're a nobody, a shadow. I could see right through you. I guess that's all you shadow dragons are good for."

"Say's the ice dragon, I could make a list of all the things you aren't meant to have..." she suddenly narrowed her eyes and smiled. "...A mate being one of them."

Spyro froze and looked at Vixen. Out of nowhere, she suddenly sprung up and pounced at Cynder. Spyro quickly stood up and snatched her out of the air, struggling to hold her back. He felt her claws make contact with his scales and he yipped in pain as they dug into his hide in Vixen's attempt to squirm out of his grasp.

"What is wrong with you?" he shrieked, pushing her away. She tried to push past him to attack Cynder . She almost succeeded, but Cynder had stood up and shoved her away and out of Spyro's grip with surprising force. Vixen toppled backwards, landing on her stomach. In seconds she was back on her feet in a low stance.

"You touch me and you're dead," Cynder growled, her eyes narrowed in anger. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

"Both of you, stop!" Spyro hissed. The two dragonesses looked at him in surprise. He rubbed the spot on his body where Vixen's claws had made contact and pulled his paw away to examine them. Vixen drew blood. He looked at her in desolation.

"I'm so sorry, Spyro." she said quickly, her eyes flooding with tears.

The entire class had turned to watch the scene that was unfolding. Spyro was angered that no one had tried to help him stop the two from fighting. He still stood between the two, glancing at both of them, afraid that one of them would get past him. The teacher bounded over and examined each of them.

"Spyro, escort these two to the office," she said, scowling in anger. Spyro nodded and shot a look at Vixen, telling her to leave with his eyes alone. She dipped her head in anguish and left the room, followed by him and Cynder.

* * *

In the hallway, Vixen had put distance between her and Spyro. Cynder came to his side, looking at him with a sickened expression. "I'm sorry, Spyro."

"It's alright. I just can't believe she did that... She's the last person I would ever expect to act like that." he looked down the hallway at Vixen, who trailed towards the office taking slow and uneasy steps.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have said what I did. I don't know what's gotten into me." she admitted. She sighed. "I've ruined so much. Apparently more than I could imagine." she said, gesturing towards Vixen.

Spyro shook his head. "Don't let what she said get to you. She doesn't know what she is talking about." Or does she? What did she mean when she said that Cynder had ruined everything for her?

"Can... Can I hug you?" she asked suddenly.

Spyro's heart skipped a beat. "Um... Sure?" he answered. He blinked three or four times quickly and felt his face redden as he struggled to hide his excitement. He stopped walking when he suddenly felt Cynder grab him gently and stood up on her back legs to wrap her arms around him, purring quietly. He smiled, unsure what to do. He glanced at her face, she was frowning and her eyes were closed. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and gently rubbed her back.

The hug seemingly dragged on for more than a minute. Spyro was dazed by the warmth of her body. She pulled away and looked down. "Thanks... I feel a little bit better now." she said truthfully. "To be honest, I kind of wanted to make you feel better, too."

"I've never felt better." he said by accident. "It- it was nice, you know, the- uh, hug." he said, tripping over himself.

Cynder giggled. "It really was. It was a little awkward, too. You know, just becoming friends and all. I'm not really interested in that kind of contact yet," she shook her head, "I'm going off-topic, I'm just glad that I could make you feel better."

"Just becoming friends?" Spyro repeated. "Looks like I passed your little test." he smiled.

"Yeah, you did." she grinned.

"May I ask you what that was all about?"

Cynder frowned and cocked her head, probably deciding over whether or not to answer. "I have trust issues." she revealed. "I've had some bad experiences in the past. I'd rather not talk about them."

"It's all right, you don't have to." Spyro said. He looked up and saw that the office was just up ahead, Vixen had already entered. He quickened his pace and opened the door, holding it open for Cynder. "I can't go in, see you tomorrow?" he asked.

"How about later today?" Cynder suggested.

Spyro nodded happily, "Alright."

"See you then." Cynder smiled and walked in. Spyro let the door close.

He sighed. This just got harder. He now has a choice; either spend time with Cynder, or visit Vixen with Blaze like they had planned. He made his choice. "I'm sorry." he whispered, mentally apologizing to the dragoness he was not going to visit.


	6. Chapter 6

Spyro set foot on the sidewalk, right across the street from the dragoness of his choice's home. He grumbled something to himself, something that not even he could make out. Without hesitation he stepped onto the street and crossed.

He felt selfish and guilty, but above all he felt like a terrible friend. He had chosen Cynder. Like the two had planned prior, he snuck over to the low hanging tree, crawling underneath of it just so that his head poked out to watch for the the black dragoness. He pricked his ears to listen for a muffled conversation, but the house was dead silent. He sighed and lied down onto his stomach, pulling himself further out from the tree. His entire front-section was now exposed. "Now we wait." he said quietly to himself, closing his eyes.

It was by now that his hopes were beginning to plummet. He had been waiting for almost half an hour, which passed by in a surprisingly short period of time as a result of him resting. He heard the shuffling of grass and lifted his head, smiling. His head darted back and forth to look for Cynder, but she had not left the house at all. He realized that he didn't even hear the door. He frowned and stood up partially.

"Spyro. What are you doing?" A feminine voice called from his left. Spyro jumped and looked over to where the voice had came from. His heart dropped. Vixen stood on the sidewalk, looking at him in confusion and, unmistakably, denial.

"Uh, nothing Vixen." He thought for a moment. "Just trying to cool off. It's really hot outside."

She frowned heavily and glanced at the house before coming closer. "You're cooling off," she started, wincing, "In _her_ yard." To Spyro's surprise, Vixen crawled underneath of the tree and lied beside him, staring at him intently.

"It's nothing, really. I saw this tree and couldn't help but come over." he claimed.

"Really? I saw you cross the street. I've been watching you, and you've been watching for her. Please don't tell me you came here to see her." she said, almost pleading that she would not receive the answer she seemed to be expecting.

Spyro swept his eyes over her, from her face to her body and back, trying to figure out what kind of a mood she was in. She did not seem angry... Yet. "Fine, then. You've got me. I came here to see her, why do you care?"

He flinched as Vixen dragged herself closer to him. Her eyes visibly clouded. "Isn't it obvious, Spyro?" she said, her voice seeming to tremble, "Haven't you noticed that I've been keeping you on a leash and within my sight all the time since she came?"

Spyro shook his head. "Now that you mention it, I have."

"There's a reason why I have been, Spyro. You just don't understand. Please, leave. Leave and come with me." she urged.

Spyro clenched his jaws together tightly and looked away. He tried so hard to work up the courage to just tell her no. He looked back at her, taking careful note of her expression. She looked like she was about to break out into tears- something he did not want to see. "Alright, Vixen. I'll come with you." he said. Boldly he threw an arm around her and pulled her closer. "But you owe me an explanation."

Vixen purred quietly, looking straight down at the grass. "Alright." she coaxed, trying her best to press against Spyro's arm. With her attempts came the numbing of his scales from the prolonged contact with her icy touch.

His arm almost becoming painfully cold, Spyro grimaced and withdrew his arm. Vixen looked up, seemingly disappointed that he did so. He glanced at her and met her eyes with his own, her soft pearly white eyes were slightly intimidating. "What were you doing anyways? Clearly you didn't know exactly where I was."

"I was really upset, so I decided to go for a walk to help relieve me of my stress. That's how I saw you."

"Oh. You don't deserve to be upset. You're my friend, and I don't want to see my friends feeling like that."

Vixen looked up at him thoughtfully. "Thank you, Spyro. But you can't help with this one." she said, shaking her head and looking away.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm sure I can, I've just gotta use the old playbook." he said, smiling. His method of rubbing her shoulder gently was used. He placed a paw on her shoulder and did just that.

She shook herself in a frustrated manner, knocking Spyro's grip on her shoulder away. "I mean it. Unless you can make miracles happen, I'm going to be upset for a while."

"I won't let you be." Spyro said. He scooted closer. While he was still slightly angry at her for her attempt to attack Cynder, this was his best friend. He would not allow her to be upset as long as he was still breathing.

"You're so... well, You're too dedicated." She shook her head. "No, that's not the word. You're too nice." She said, looking up at him.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Spyro mumbled. He never thought of himself as 'too nice.'

"Not always, Spyro. Not always."

Spyro smiled. "Last time I checked, it is always a good thing."

"You're wrong." She murmured. Spyro looked at her claws, which she dug into the grass.

"Just tell me where exactly you are trying to take me." he said, remembering what Vixen wanted.

To Spyro's relief, she finally seemed to lighten up. "Anywhere but here." She answered without hesitation. Suddenly her eyes darted downwards. She frowned. "I'm sorry, Spyro." she said slowly.

Confused, Spyro followed her gaze to the wound on his arm, the one that Vixen had inflicted earlier. He drew back. "It's nothing, really. Don't worry about it." he assured. He touched it with a free paw and winced. It still hurts.

"It isn't nothing, that's a deep cut," she protested, "Let me look at it." she demanded. Spyro did as he was told, holding his arm up for Vixen to inspect. "I can't believe I did this, It's almost as deep as the length of my claw. How does it not hurt?" she asked, looking up at him worriedly.

"It doesn't. Really." Spyro assured, pulling his arm away. Vixen's icy touch returned as he felt his arm being grabbed and pulled back to where she could look at it.

"May I?" she asked, bringing her head closer to his arm.

"May you what?" Spyro asked, confused.

Vixen giggled and gently blew on the wound. A gust of cold air met his scales and after a few moments it went completely numb. Vixen smiled and released her grip. "There. It won't hurt as bad and it will heal faster."

Spyro rubbed his arm, but did not feel a thing. "T- thanks." he stuttered. He felt his paw being taken into Vixen's, with a tight grip on his paw she gingerly pulled him to his feet and gently pulled him out from underneath of the tree.

"Come on, you wanted an explanation. But not here." she said, releasing his paw and walking down the sidewalk, peeking over her shoulder at him and smiling mysteriously. He wrinkled his snout in confusion and took off after her.

Vixen led him all the way to the park. Spyro cocked his head in curiosity and followed her to a hill that was quite a distance away from the trails. There were more trees than usual, and it was twice as hilly. Spyro was a little curious to know why Vixen led him here. After a few more meters she suddenly stopped and threw herself into a tree, turning around and peering down at him. "We're the only dragons here." she squeaked happily.

Spyro looked around. Indeed, they were. "So, why here?" he asked, sitting down on his haunches and looking up at the mischievous dragoness.

She fanned her wings out to her side and climbed higher, occasionally looking down at him and smiling. "Come up here. I know you're good at climbing." By now, she had reached the top, where she sat down against a V-shaped incline.

Spyro grinned and began climbing the tree, heaving his weight up to the spot where Vixen sat. He got there much quicker than she did. He looked around for a branch to sit upon, but there were none. Vixen scooted closer to the trunk she was sitting against, leaving a space directly in front of her against the other trunk. There was not that much space, their chests' would be either touching or very close. He awkwardly took the spot, looking down as he noticed Vixen's burning stare. "Alright. Explain." he said.

Vixen excitedly grabbed both of his paws, bringing them closer to her and holding them loosely. "Shouldn't it be obvious?" she said softly. Spyro shook his head, confused about what she meant. "After all, I've been hiding it all these years. I'm surprised you haven't put the pieces together yet." she purred, leaning in closer to him.

Spyro looked down at his paws, which were held tightly in Vixen's. He looked back up at her face. That mysterious smile of hers had returned, and was more visible than ever. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Vixen giggled. "You're always so clueless. I love you."

Spyro tensed, staring at her dead in the eyes. It explained so much... Why she was so defensive of him, why she hated Cynder, why she seemed so jealous... And most of all, why she was so angry with him being around her. This was not meant to be... All these years she was his best friend, but secretly she... She had these feelings for him? "Vixen... I-"

"Shh.. Don't talk, Spyro," she murmured, "You'll ruin the moment." With that she leaned in, pressing her head underneath of his chin and nuzzling his neck gently. He attempted to pull away, but suddenly she lifted her head and did the unthinkable. Her icy cold lips made contact with his.

It was a kiss.

Spyro's eyes shot open in surprise, but he remained fixed, not pulling away at all or even making an attempt to. It was like he was hypnotized. Why was he enjoying this? Vixen pressed in closer, finally releasing his paws to place both of her's on his chest. She continued, not caring that Spyro was not as excited as she was. She closed her eyes and finally pulled away, shuddering as loud purrs escaped her throat.

After a moment of silence, she opened her eyes and smiled uncontrollably. "I'm sorry I came on to you so strongly, I've been waiting soo long to do that. Now, what were you trying to say? Before I, well, you know."

Spyro gulped and looked away, still shocked about what just happened. Then a thought struck him. He could use this to his his advantage... To get Vixen back on his side so that he could resume his mission with Cynder. But... It did not feel right to lie to her. It will hurt her so much when she finds out. "I... I-I love you too." he said, cursing at himself for it.

Vixen smiled and rested her head onto his chest, closing her eyes. Without looking up she spoke. "Now you understand. And if you're wondering, I don't regret anything."

Spyro frowned, looking down at Vixen. She seemed really comfortable, so he tried his best not to move, asides from the gentle rise and fall of his chest. "What is there to regret?" he said. "We've both gotten what we wanted to say off of our chests'."

"I don't regret loving you. I feel like we are meant to be... I can see it when I look at you, it just feels right. It's like every moment I spend by you makes me happier inside." She withdrew her head and touched her snout to his. "I love you so much." she whispered.

Spyro bit his tongue and frowned. "Me too." he said. He just dug his own grave. "We're here together and that's all that matters."

"Yeah. I can't believe that we are here, together. It just makes me so happy to be here with you." She murmured before snuggling against him. Spyro could feel the rumble of her purring, a non-stop and continuous rhythm. She suddenly cocked her head to the sunset. "I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?" she asked. She was clearly sad.

"Okay. I'll see you then." He watched as Vixen started down the tree, stopping to look back up at him and smiling before leaping off and to the ground where she disappeared from view. Spyro sighed and climbed down. "I just made this a whole. Lot. Harder." he growled, angry at himself. 


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Spyro awoke, much to his disapproval. The purple dragon shifted about angrily, irritated that his much needed sleep had been stolen from him. The light outside, and the fact that he could see the sun from where he was, told him that it was time to get out of bed whether he liked it or not.

Sighing, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had about half of an hour to get ready for school, something he would typically be excited about. Not today, he was stressed already. The thought of dragging his aching body through the hallways of school and listening to the gibberish his teachers had to say just made him want to lay back down.

Regardless, he got out of bed and groaned doing so, making sure to check his floor for anything that would trip him again. He made the mistake before, he didn't want to make it again. As he stumbled into a sloppy balance, his mind told him to head to the bathroom and get washed up. His body, however, told him the words he wanted to hear. Back to sleep, Spyro. But that's not something you listen to. He fought the urge to listen to his body's instructions and paced down the hallway to the bathroom.

He opened the door and went in. He stood still for a moment to listen for any sign that his father was awake, but heard nothing but the noises that came from outside- although really all that came from outside was the birds that seemed to be restless when it came to their obnoxious singing. He shrugged and closed the door behind him, checking the mirror to ensure he was looking at his best. If only.

His scales were ruffled, his eyes were clouded, and perhaps worst of all-

Spyro growled before throwing his paws up in frustration, leaning closer to the mirror to inspect the painfully unappealing feature that showed on his forehead. He rubbed the cherry red mark on his temple. He frowned, the position in which he was sleeping must have caused this ridiculous mark. "How does that even-" he started, shutting his mouth and twisting his expression into a frown.

It was so red, it could likely be seen from a mile away, a beacon to declare that the exhausted form of Spyro had appeared. He turned the faucet on the nearby sink. Shaking his head and muttering things to himself, he plunged his paws into the steady stream of lukewarm water, splashing it on his face. With high hopes, he turned the water off and stepped back to look at himself. Still there.

Whatever, he had to take a shower anyways. He did just that, a quick clean and rinse and he stepped out. Shiny scales and a fresh scent. He wasn't entirely sure if the shower had any luck when it came to that hideous mark, but he didn't want to know if it was still there. He dried himself off and left the bathroom to gather his things.

It was the last thing he needed to do to prepare for school. After searching the house for his binder and his notebook he finally left the house.

Surprisingly, neither Blaze or Vixen were outside waiting for him. He knew that Vixen would be there if she was, especially after that lie he told her. Even though she confessed her feelings for him the day before, he was still shocked. How did he not notice? The evidence was right in front of his snout and yet he still didn't notice the intent of those stares of adoration she always shot him, the odd reaction's she had when he mentioned her name in admiring ways, the fact that she was always with him.

But now he knows. And as far as she knows, he feels the same way. At least that's what his lie claimed. His worsening personality was proved further as the first thing Spyro worried about was Cynder. His head instantly darted towards her house the second it became visible. It was then that he realized that he could not be seen with her around Vixen. Unless he could somehow manage to convince Vixen that she was a mere friend... Which was all he was to the black dragoness. Oh, how he hoped that it would change. He just wanted to have Cynder by his side, to be able to call her his own.

But now he was worrying. What... What if Cynder saw him with Vixen? Especially now that she was expected to act much more intimate? That would ruin his chances... Unless he could make up an excuse as to why she was getting so cozy around him. Even then... Deep down inside Spyro enjoyed her company. But how could he ever truly love Vixen? After all of the years that he had known her as nothing more than a friend- a really close one at that. He felt like crying. He ruined everything, didn't he? Why didn't he just tell Vixen the truth? His scales pricked with anger directed towards his own pathetic self.

He had to tell Blaze... But could he trust him with his secret? So many questions... But not enough answers.

"Hey! Spyro!" A sudden feminine voice rang out. Spyro nearly jumped out of his own senses in alarm. His head spun to face the dragon who stood about a house length away, their sleek black scales and radiant green eyes revealing who it was.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Cynder." he muttered. Or was it a whimper? If there was one thing Spyro knew about himself, it was that he hated being scared.

Cynder giggled with glee and walked towards him in a quickened pace. The bounce in her step and the way her tail shook told him that she was in a good mood. For this, he was too. "Sorry," she said, covering her mouth to silence yet another giggle. Forget 'good mood', she seemed _deliriously_happy. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked as she came close enough for Spyro to see the white of her eyes.

Spyro cocked his head in curiosity. "School, isn't that what you are awake for as well?" He shifted his weight onto his left side and brought his tail inwards before sitting down with his right flank facing her. He wasn't sure if her question was a conversation starter or serious, the answer to his pondering could remain unknown until she explains herself. With the mood she's in, that question of her's could have meant anything.

"Didn't you hear? School's been canceled. What for, I don't know. You should go back inside and get some shut-eye while you still can." Spyro watched as her eyes moved upwards. "You okay? You've got quite a mark on your forehead."

Spyro sighed. "Let's just say that I got a little too comfortable last night." He smiled and stood up. "Anyways, I'm already up. What's the point in going back inside and sleeping the day away?" His conscious laughed in his face. You'd love that, wouldn't you Spyro. Great, he was so tired that he was talking to himself in his mind.

"Good point," she shrugged.

Spyro grinned and poked her shoulder playfully. "Well, Ms. Cynder, You've got something strange about you, too. And it's not being up so early or... A red mark on your forehead." Spyro bit his lips and turned his back towards her. He realized his rude action and corrected himself by flicking his tail towards him. She understood what his gesture meant and began to follow him as he started down the sidewalk.

"And what is that?" Cynder asked. She brandished an amused smile, accompanied by a special look in her eye that showcased what she must have been thinking; Oh yeah? Try me.

Spyro waved towards her legs with his tail as he walked. "Well, that bounce in your step and your unusual display of... Well, whatever _that _is, tells me a little something." he said, pointing at the conspicuous smile that she had wore since she first approached him. "You're happy about something. Do you mind sharing?" With that, he grinned defiantly.

Cynder purred in amusement. "I am happy about something." she revealed. Suddenly she stopped,her eyes going wide and her wings drawing outwards to her side, revealing her impressive wingspan. "I almost forgot to mention that!" she exclaimed, "I've got some good news for you."

Spyro could not deny that he was genuinely intrigued by her sudden outburst and claim of good news. "What is it?" he asked, lowering his head to level it with hers- the movement seemed very cat-like.

"Well, let's just say we're on good terms with Vixen." she purred, closing her eyes in joy and smiling from cheek to cheek after she turned her head towards the length of the sidewalk. Without opening her eyes or looking back towards him she continued. "She came to me early this morning. She apologized and she said that she wanted to become friends. To make up for her rowdy behavior, I think that's what she said."

Spyro's heart skipped a beat. Relief pulsed through his blood. "That _is_ good news!" he exclaimed happily, "See? I told you she'd come around." Spyro was relieved now, but if he knew what disaster this would bring in the future he would have had a completely different response.

Nonetheless, it was nothing short of a miracle to him at the given moment. That's when he remembered something. "Oh, Cynder?" he said, stopping.

Cynder stopped walking as well, tilting her head in puzzlement before nodding for him to go on. He wasn't quite sure if she would understand the words that were about to flow out of his mouth.

"I can't be seen with you." he said. He winced and glanced at her worriedly. "It's a lot more important than you think. And if you need to speak to me in school you should do so casually. We'll also have to meet in private."

Spyro could tell by the look he received that Cynder did not take being told what to do kindly. Her everlasting smile faded down into a frown as she sat down in an aggravated fashion. She looked him over. "Why?" she asked firmly.

"I really can't tell you everything, but it's about Vixen."

"Spyro, things between me and Vixen have been settled... Whatever they were. I don't think it's even about Vixen." she said. Her frown grew.

"It is, believe me. Nothing else, just Vixen." he urged. His entire body was tensed, he hoped with all of his heart that she would demand a further explanation.

"Alright, then. I suppose that if it's important as it seems then I should follow that rule." she said. Spyro noticed a slight emphasis on her use of the word 'rule'. He knew right away it was to make him feel guilty for limiting her ability to socialize.

"It's not a rule, Cynder. It's... A favor, in a way." Spyro groaned mentally. He worded that wrong, and now he could tell that she thinks that he is hiding something from Vixen... And from her. He felt his anger towards himself return as he remembered that he truly was hiding something. This was how desperate he was? He was going to lie to friends to get what he wants?

"Alright, then. Rule, Favor... Whatever you want to call it. I'll agree with it, I guess." Spyro could tell that she was irritated with him now. "So, what is your plan for the day?" she asked.

"I don't know really," he said, "I want to spend some time with you, if that's alright with you?" Please... Please... Please, he thought to himself, please say yes.

"Of course it's fine with me," she purred, "I can't possibly say no, anyways." With a quick glance at her, Spyro noticed that she had came slightly closer to him. "What do you want to do?" she asked, studying him in curiosity.

Spyro thought for a moment, locked in sincere concentration as he carefully assessed what he could do with her that wouldn't bore her to death. There were so many things he could do... But he wanted to get closer to her. Perhaps they could go see a movie together? She seems like the type that would enjoy something like that... Or maybe she'd like a stroll around that almost mystic looking lake, the one only he, Vixen, and Blaze knew of? "Can I show you something?" he asked.

"Sure," she mused. She then began to stare at him intently, as he started walking away. He stopped to look back at her, puzzled as she had sat down to watch him.

Spyro gulped as her stare dragged on for almost half of a minute. She cocked her head in curiosity and looked at his paws for a second before looking him in the eyes.

"So... What is it?" She asked, her tail shaking impatiently. Spyro realized that she thought he was going to show her an object or something of that sort. He laughed.

"It's not a thing, it's a place. A secret one." he explained, smiling. "Follow me and I'll show you. I think you might like it." Now that Cynder had stood up he began walking back in the direction that they had came from, towards the park. He was going to show her that hidden lake that only he and his friends knew where to find.

Surprisingly, Cynder actually looked interested. He was relieved, in his mind he was worrying that the idea of a 'secret place' would make for a dull idea and a boring way to spend time. He quietly chuckled to himself as he remembered just how glorious the lake really was. Maybe they could go for a swim, too. Perhaps she'd like that?

The scene played in his head. He and Cynder would stand near the edge, looking at the water and the thin fog that covered it's surface. It would be the perfect atmosphere for him to try to break the ice.

But then Cynder would turn to face him, a disappointed frown on her face. Her wings would droop low and she would slump forward, clearly aggravated. "Really Spyro? You're so boring." she would mutter. With a sigh she would cover her eyes with the wings, unbelieving at what a waste of time it was to follow him to a place that she actually expected to be both secretive and interesting.

He shook his head, frowning. Now, he found himself approaching the dense shrubbery that covered a secret trail, the one that led to the lake. Hm, he must have fast-forwarded his travel to the park it seems. Cynder wore a undeniable smile, one that really brought out her eyes. She looked up at him, her smile turning into a curious smirk.

She's so pretty, he thought to himself as he looked back at her. He forced a smile and reached for the branches that hid the trail, standing up on both of his back legs to lift it above his head with his front paws, just enough for Cynder to pass through without getting scratched or pricked by the branches. With a subtle, "Thank you," she ducked underneath, turning back to wait as Spyro followed.

"It's right down this trail," he reported to her, "Just watch your step, it can get to be pretty steep at some parts." He smiled as he remembered how he found out about it.

When he and his friends first found the place, Blaze was being just as clumsy as his personality. Not even bothering to look where he stepped, he pretty much darted down the trail eager to see what it led to. Ha... He lost his footing and fell down, instantly his fall turned into a roll as he tumbled down the trail and out of sight in a bush all the way at the bottom. Too bad it didn't knock some sense into him, he thought with a chuckle.

Cynder noticed his laugh and looked up at him, slowly smiling in response. "What's so funny?" she asked in a light voice. He automatically assumed she thought it was about something regarding someone falling, because she looked down at the trail, slowly lowering her paw onto the ground with each step she took. Not as clumsy as Blaze, he observed. Good.

"I just remembered something," he said, drawing back into a sigh, "Good times." he breathed out. A warm smile carved into his face as he peered through a layer of leaves to look at a silvery looking thing. He pointed towards it. "It's right up here." he reported. His pace switched from a hike into an excited jog towards the lake. It's been ages since he last came here, yet every time he did he always had fun.

He led Cynder to an opening, revealing the lake in all of it's splendor. It was just like how he remembered, too beautiful to be described with words. A dim sheet of fog covered the waveless water, not a single ripple anywhere. The reason it was so well hidden was because of the canopy from the trees, their stems reaching to loom over the lake, blocking out the majority of the sunlight. Small rays of light did get in, though. Highlighting certain spots of the water to the point that you could see it's crystal clear bottom.

There was something about the shade from the canopy that drew a truly beautiful bug to the lake. Their lights glowed, many of them coming from strands of tall grass that poked up from the surface of the lake. "Fireflies," Spyro thought aloud, breaking the complete silence. Much to his amusement, Cynder's jaw hung open as she scanned her surroundings.

"Its... Beautiful." She said softly. She walked closer to the lake, her paws slowly descending into the water. Her steps created ripples that spread throughout the lake, breaking it's state of stillness and stirring the fog into small swirls as the waves gently swished it around. Her eyes wide, she leaned her head downwards to look at the water very closely. Her snout was practically touching it.

"Is the water cold?" He asked, drawing nearer. He spotted a small pile of stones near the bank. He smiled and grasped one into his paw, peering over at Cynder.

She finally snapped out of her dreamlike trance. She shook her head and realized that he had asked a question. "N-no, it's perfect..." she declared. Spyro smiled. He already knew that the water was warm. One of his conversation tricks. It lightens the mood, helping to bring out the other's true ideas. It always worked wonders. He slowly began to count down. 3... 2... 1...

"You should come feel it!" She exclaimed, smiling from cheek to cheek in pure joy. After her little outburst, she began to pick her paws up, bring them above the surface and bringing them back down to splash water. She looked up at him and smirked. With one paw she striked the surface. Spyro laughed and covered his eyes as the water smacked against his scales, getting his right flank wet. He shook himself, even though there were only a few drops on his scales. He reared back and threw the stone that he held in his paw. It hit the surface and, to Cynder's amusement, did again and again. The stone left a trail of ripples as it skipped along the surface towards the center of the lake.

He smiled. "That's eight skips! A new record!" he purred happily. With a quick glance at Cynder he could tell that she was already beginning to enjoy the lake. His eyes scanned the treeline, a huge rock grabbing his attention. "Watch this!" he called out, running towards the rock. She watched in curiosity as he disappeared from view. A few moments later he emerged at the top of the rock. With a graceful leap he dived into the water, cleanly darting underneath of the surface.

He cut through the water beneath the surface, slowly creeping past the underwater grass and stones to emerge near the center of the lake. As he poked his head up, he began to kick with his front and back legs in a rhythmic pattern to keep him afloat. He turned towards the black dragoness, who was still legs-deep in the water near the bank. "Come on over!" He called.

He could see the dragoness shake her head. "No, thanks. I don't feel like getting wet." she called back. Spyro laughed and shook his head. She must not go swimming very often.

"Aw, come on, it's just a little water." he said in a teasing voice. She still refused, shaking her head again.

"If I go that far in my wings will get damp." she protested. Spyro watched as she fanned her wings, gently turning her body to stroke the one on the left. He noticed how she seemed proud of her wings. He could see why she would be, her wingspan was pretty impressive. Much bigger than his for sure. He swished his tail in the water in irritation, she was missing out on one of the best parts of the lake.

"Do you know how to swim?" He asked loudly.

Cynder stopped stroking her wing and spun to face him from where she was. "Of course I do, I'm really good as a matter of fact." she retorted. Spyro couldn't see her facial expressions from where he was, but he could tell by her tone that she was bewildered by his question.

"Well, swimming in a lake is not that hard, you know. I bet you're just scared." he asked. He was going to try to get her to swim with him using reverse phycology. She took a steps closer, almost chest-deep in the water. He could tell it was working.

"Scared, huh? I'm not afraid of anything." she said as she continued to slowly descend into the lake. Every few steps she took she would glance at him, probably to make sure he was watching, other than that her focus remained on where her paws were going.

"Ha, you look like you're afraid of water. Show me that you aren't afraid of anything, because I don't believe you." he sneered. Come on, just a few more steps and you'll be up to the neck, he thought.

Cynder continued coming closer, one step at a time. The water rose over her shoulders and... She stopped suddenly, leaning back and curling into a rough sitting position. Spyro could see the glint of her teeth as she pulled her mouth into a smile. "I don't have to show you anything." she grinned, narrowing her eyes in defiance.

He frowned. Reverse phycology does not work on the shadow dragoness. He continued treading water whilst thinking of another way to get her to come to him. Say please... No. Trick her... Already tried that. Another idea came to mind, one that was relatively simple. Give up. It was clear that she did not want to swim and he had no right to try to pressure her into swimming.

He, however, did want to swim. And not only did he know about the lake, but also a special cave that was near the bank a short distance away. She could either stay by herself or come with him. The only way to get to it was by swimming. "There's something over there you might be interested in." he coaxed, pointing downstream. Cynder followed his gesture to look to the area he indicated.

"I'm not swimming, Spyro. Give up already." She purred, exiting the water completely and shaking herself.

"Fine then, don't swim. I'll be back in a little while..." he began, smiling as he slowly began to swim towards the cave, "...Just watch out for the wolves. They really like this lake." He turned his head and began to swim away.

"Wolves!?" He heard Cynder screech, followed by a splash. Ha, got her. He turned around to see Cynder paddling after him, a huge frown on her face. He laughed and slowed down a bit to allow her to catch up.

"How are your wings?" He teased as she came to his side. He looked her over, she actually seemed to be a good swimmer like she had claimed. Her scales were soaked like his, except her's were even shinier now. And, like she had said, her wings were damp.

Cynder glanced at him and frowned lightly, then looked away. "This better be worth it, Spyro." With that, she splashed him. Trust me... It will be, he thought, and continued swimming.

Spyro stepped foot onto the sandy bank of the river, his wet scales causing some of the sand to stick to his paws. He shook himself and turned to watch as Cynder came onto the bank alongside him. She tried to lift her wings but they were soaked and heavy. She caught him looking at her and shook her head.

"Come on, the place is right up here." Right away he remembered exactly where to find the cave. He was sure that Cynder would like the little surprise that the cave had in store. He led her to a part of the bank where the sand stopped and was replaced with slick stone that curved upwards to form a big incline. They walked along it's side until the stone suddenly dipped into a dragon-sized hole. There was a shimmer of light that came from the darkness inside.

"After you." Cynder purred, clearly afraid despite her attempts to hide it. He had no problem with being the first to enter, he knew exactly what was on the other side of the hole. He crouched down and crawled through the opening, disappearing from her sight. He heard her clear her throat nervously before following him in.

Inside, the cave was moist. The two stepped onto a sturdy overhang that rose above a very large sphere like crater. Somewhere in the cave was a constant dripping sound that came from water falling from an overhead stalagmite into a small pond. It was just about the only sound there was, making the cave almost quiet enough for Spyro to hear Cynder's soft breathing. The fact that there was water in the cave made it so that there were reflections of the water on the cave walls, something that is only possible with light.

To Cynder's surprise- made obvious by her amazed gasp- there was light, but not from the sun or a flame. Scattered everywhere in the crater were small crystals of all sorts of different colors. Red,blue, green, yellow, even a white crystal here and there. Each of them gave off a faint light that was the same color as the crystal. It made the crater look like a rainbow that fell from the sky and landed before them.

But Spyro knew that this was only the icing on the cake. He tapped Cynder's shoulder, bringing her back to her senses. "Follow me." He walked to the edge of the overhang and stepped foot onto a huge rock that cascaded down to the base of the crater, much like a staircase. He made his way down it, Cynder right behind him- literally. Upon reaching the bottom he hopped down and turned around, putting his paw out to offer help. She happily accepted his offer, grasping his paw and stepping down.

"Which color is your favorite?" he asked as he led her towards the center of the crater. He peeked at her quickly, spotting the look of amazement on her face. He smiled.

"The green ones," she answered, her mouth falling open as she looked around. She looked towards him to see him holding a green crystal, holding it out for her to take. The crystal he held was smaller than the ones that surrounded them, it was cylindrical in shape and was as big as his paw. She covered her mouth and sat down on her haunches, purring loudly.

"Have it," he said, realizing that she was at a loss for words. He angled his paw towards him to examine the crystal, pleased by the pulsating green light that came from the center of the crystal, illuminating both of their bodies with it's radiant glow. He looked up at her and smiled, holding it out for her once more. A moment passed of her staring at the crystal and at him in turn, although it seemed like time froze. She slowly took the crystal from his paw.

With wide eyes, she held each end of the crystal with both paws, holding it up to her eyes. Spyro watched as she stared into it in curiosity. He laughed quietly in amusement and ran off to grab another small crystal, the one he returned with was purple. When he returned, she was still staring at her crystal.

He paced over to her side and sat down right next to her, closer to her than he had ever been- about a paw-length away. He peeked at her and caught her staring at him, her crystal still held next to her face. "T- Thank you... It's beautiful." She smiled and leaned against him, returning her gaze to her crystal.

He froze and glanced at her in surprise. It was the first time they had really touched on purpose, besides the comforting hug of reassurance that the two shared. He felt the rumble of her chest from her faint purr and the warmth of her body.

"You're an amazing friend," she said quietly, "Even though we've known each other for such a short time, I'm glad I met you." He felt her head rub against his shoulder.

Without hesitation, Spyro took one of his paws off of his crystal and wrapped his arm around her waist, squeezing her gently. Her purring intensified as she wriggled against it. Then he remembered something. He was sure it would shape the atmosphere into a bond. "Do you want to see what happens when they touch?" He asked, holding his crystal next to her's. He felt her head move against his side, a nod. "Whatever you do, don't let go," he warned, and touched his crystal to her's.

Almost the second they touched, the light from both of their crystals lit up to make the entire crystal glow brightly. He gently pulled her closer to him with the arm he still had around her. A small flame suddenly appeared inside of both of their crystals. He felt Cynder tense. "Don't let go," he repeated. The flames grew bigger, then suddenly vanished into smoke that flooded the inside of the crystals. The smoke began to vent towards the other crystal, and faded away to reveal the changes.

On Cynder's crystal, one half had turned purple and the other remained green. The same thing happened to his crystal. But the most surprising thing was what had appeared on each segment.

On the green side of each of their crystals, the shape of a black dragon was formed in the center. On the purple side was the shape of a purple dragon. Both of the shapes glowed- the black dragon shone green and the purple dragon shone purple. 

Spyro smiled and looked at Cynder's amazed reaction. He had the same reaction when he found out about it with Blaze and Vixen. It felt good to share the things he knew about with Cynder, but he still had so many things he wanted to show her. "Keep it someplace safe, it'd be a shame to lose it." he said, tapping on her crystal before setting his down next to him.

She nodded and stowed her's away, quickly glancing at him. "How did you find this place?" she asked in wonder.

"My friends and I found this place by accident," he explained, "Vixen and Blaze. You don't know him yet, but I don't think you want to. He decided to tease us by going into that opening outside, not too long after he did he yelled for us to come see what he found and, well, here we are." Once again, Cynder leaned against him.

"You have some cool friends, then." she said, purring. She sat up and looked at him for a moment before scooting away to face him directly. "If I told you something about me, would you think less of me?" she asked, staring him in the eyes, waiting for any hint that his answer would be yes.

"No, I wouldn't" Spyro said, clearly pleasing the dragoness as she began to purr again. He lied down on his stomach and cocked his head towards her.

"You're the only friend I have..." she said truthfully, looking down. "...The only friend I've ever had." She took a deep breath and looked him over. Her eyes were a lighter shade of green, brighter than they would usually be. Accompanied by the happiness in her eyes was a nervous smile that tried it's best to disappear, but she couldn't help but treat him to that look.

Spyro smiled back and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and squeezing her gently into a hug. Where did his boldness come from? His bravery brought the rewarding sound of her quiet cooing and purring to his ears, a truly amazing sound in his opinion. She snuggled into his arms- the fact that she sunk into his grasp seemed to show that she was _expecting_ him to hug her.

He glanced down at her, seeing that her head was pressed against his shoulder with her eyes closed. The light from the crystals surrounding them caused her scales- and his- to glow and shimmer with all sorts of colors. He purred and began to gently rub her back, but just a few seconds after he began she pulled away forcefully, breaking free of his grasp. She leaned back to sit on her haunches, looking up at him.

"Thanks, I love hugs." Her words confirmed his thoughts.

Spyro nodded, sitting down. "Me too." He lied back down on his stomach and closed his eyes for a moment.

Cynder lied down next to him, "They're warm, comforting, reassuring, and they give me a sense of protection. They are the best things in the world to me," she continued as she did. "I don't like them as much as friends, though." She purred and poked him.

He opened his eyes and grinned, poking her back. "We should stay here for a while longer. I really like it here." Cynder nodded and curled herself into a ball shape, draping her wings around her and cooing in pleasure from the warmth it gave her. Spyro was jealous of her wings, she could wrap them almost around her entire body- that's how big they were. Eh, he was paying attention to the small details again. He looked at her in full, still in awe from her appearance.

I love her so much, he thought to himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Spyro felt himself waking up, but his eyes remained closed. He did not want to get up, today there was surely school... The one thing that he despised the most. He refused to open them, but for some reason it felt like he wasn't in his bed. He tried to shift into a different position, but he couldn't feel a thing.

Confused, he sat up. But to his surprise, he was already up... Standing, as a matter of fact. He opened his eyes. He gasped.

He wasn't in his room... Or even in his house for that matter. He was outside somewhere, but he couldn't seem to find out where exactly he was. Everything around him was out of focus, blurred to the point that he could not make out any details. Not only that, everything was carpeted in an odd faint purple haze. He turned his head to his left and spotted a building. He could make out it's shape as his school. "What?" he said without knowing.

While he did not know it at first, something was... Different. Spyro looked around. He was confused, he never came here? This was not the weird part of it, though. Time did not seem to be moving and there was this constant dripping sound in the back of his head. Wind blew around him in furious bursts that whipped against his scales. His breathing was strained and with every raspy breath he took it felt like more and more weight was being put onto his chest. He was overcome with the feeling of a presence.

He spun around, eyes wide to see that Vixen and Cynder were behind him. They were not blurry at all, their figures were crystal clear. The black dragoness was staring at him with genuine anger, unblinking and without flinching. Held in her arms with her head pressed against her was Vixen, her eyes closed tightly and tears stained her face.

"Cynder? Vixen? What's going on?" he asked worriedly. His eyes swept over Vixen, she looked absolutely heartbroken- how he could tell was beyond him. Neither of them answered or even looked up, they still stood completely rigid... almost like statues. The wind around him picked up, almost batting him about. He walked closer to them and saw that Cynder had not been looking at him. Her eyes seemed to be locked on something that was where he was standing.

He looked to where he stood. There was nothing there. He looked back towards the two dragonesses, terror beginning to fill his mind. His eyes darted around him, scanning his blurry surroundings because the feeling of a presence nearby remained. It was like something was watching him. "Hello?" he called. His voice echoed. No answer... Just terrifying silence. He inched closer to them, seeing Vixen's grief-filled expression.

"Vixen?" he whispered. He lifted a paw and tried to touch her cheek, but his paw phased right through her head as if she wasn't even there- but instead was a ghostly apparition. He took a few steps back when he heard a voice- but neither Cynder or Vixen's mouth was moving. It seemed to be coming from inside of his head.

Almost the second he heard it he quickly collapsed onto his haunches, hissing in pain as he covered his head with both of his paws. His head was throbbing in splitting pain. He fell backwards as the pain worsened, causing him to writhe on the ground in agony. He screamed as it felt like his brain was being torn.

"How could he do this to us?" A voice whimpered, the tears audible in their voice. It was a feminine tone. The pain continued, but even through it he could make out the voice as Vixen's. He closed his eyes tightly and pressed his paws into his head harder to try to soothe the pain... But it continued.

"You can't trust men, Vixen. There's a reason why I have trust issues." Another voice said. It was Cynder. Her answer was firm, but in her voice he picked up a hint of grief. "They don't care about how you feel. They only care about looks and themselves. They'll play with your feelings and leave you wondering what you did wrong..." she continued.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, leaving Spyro panting as he gasped for air. Breathing heavily, he staggered to his feet to look at Cynder and Vixen. They still stood in the same position, Cynder staring at something non-existent and Vixen held tightly in her arms.

"...But now we know the truth, and if it makes you feel better, we're friends. Two victims of his lies." Cynder growled. The figures of the dragonesses began to fade away into nothingness, leaving Spyro all by himself in front of the school... But he wasn't. Something... Or someone, was still there.

The whispers in his head returned, but the pain did not. His eyes went wide with panic as he ran towards the school. He pressed his back against the wall, finding that it was solid. His eyes darted back and forth to look for the being that was there with him, but he couldn't see anything. It was all too blurry.

"How could you do this to us?" two voices whispered, coming from his mind. He quickly looked to his right. The shape of a dragoness stood right next to him, completely black. It stared at him in pure anger. He screamed.

Spyro sat up, breathing heavily. He was in his room, lying in his bed. His eyes darted around to see if the figure was there, but it was just him. He could hear the ticking of a clock and the gentle midnight zephyr outside of his window. He took a few more fear induced breaths before breathing out deeply. It was a dream. He leaned over to his nightstand and turned a small lamp on, lighting up his room dimly.

He sat back and placed a paw on his chest. His heart was pounding very fast and he felt himself shaking. Sleep will not be possible now. He slowly got out of bed and rubbed his eyes, taking slow steps towards his window. He could remember taking Cynder to the lake and the cave, then he walked home with her when it got dark. He peered through the glass across the street at Cynder's house. To his surprise, a light turned on in one of the upstairs rooms. A silhouette appeared in the window.

_That must be Cynder. Did she have a nightmare too?_ He thought. Was the dream he had even a nightmare? He tried to remember some of the details of it but they were already beginning to slip from mind. He looked towards a shelf to his left, spotting the green and purple crystal that sat upon it. Right next to it was another crystal, a light blue and purple one. He sighed and walked over to the shelf, picking up both of them and taking them to his bed where he sat down.

He sighed and looked at the half purple- half blue crystal. It was from when he and Vixen touched crystals long ago. He then looked at the other one. It was from him and Cynder.

"I messed up. I'm so sorry..."


End file.
